


Magnet

by LailaNatasya



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Female Uzumaki Naruto, a little ooc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-07
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2018-08-29 15:46:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 34,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8496025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LailaNatasya/pseuds/LailaNatasya
Summary: Like a magnet, when there is light, there will be dark.
After the war was over, everything was alright until Naruto was sent to The Hidden Village of Sand to delivered a letter to the Kazekage with Sasuke.
Danger came lurking again. But love also bloomed. What was in store for them?
In which Naruto and Sasuke has never known each other before.





	1. The Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction that I post on the internet. So, I don't have enough experienced. If there are some grammatical error, please tell me. Also, english is not my first language.  
> This story might also be long.
> 
> I don't own Naruto characters.

The sun shone brightly above Konoha. A nice weather for a new day. Above the figure-head of all the past Hokages, stood a figure of a woman. Her golden hair swayed in the breeze as she looked down on her village. Her hand held a picture to her chest, "What do you think, Dad? Will Today be a great day for all of Konoha? And..." She talked to the picture of her father and also the Forth Hokage of Konoha. "Ero-sennin... What would you be doing if you were still alive right now?" She continued as she looked up to the sky.

From behind her, a young woman with pink hair approached. She walked closer and finally stood beside the blonde. "Tsunade-sama is looking for you, Naruto!" She said as she looked towards the village that was still being rebuild. "Oh, Sakura-chan! Tsunade-baachan called me?" She greeted her friend. The girl named Sakura nodded. "Yup! She said she's got a mission for you! And it seems you will be out of the village again this time." Sakura guessed.

Naruto nodded, "Well, then! I guess I should get going. You coming, Sakura-chan?" She asked her friend. Sakura nodded and they walked together, chatting as they went. Meanwhile, inside the Hokage's office, a young man stood in front of the Fifth Hokage's desk. Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage, was talking about an escort mission to him.

"So, I want you to escort one of our kunoichi to the Sand. I will have her carry one of my personal letter to the Kazekage since she's quite close to the Kazekage. I want you to protect her! Understand?" Asked Tsunade to the raven-haired shinobi. "Understood!" The raven answered. Tsunade smiled proudly. The raven had just come back to Konoha after a long, long journey with his brother. They came back after the war and was very surprised to see Konoha was partially destroyed and thus, they did not know about the war very much as they were journeying on the other side of the war zone.

A knock was heard on the door. And two kunoichi, which are Sakura and Naruto waltz in. "What is it Baa-chan? You have a mission for me?" Naruto asked casually as she entered the room. Tsunade just chuckled and Sakura sighed because of her best friend's behavior. "Naruto, I want you to go to the Sand and deliver this! It's for-" before Tsunade could finished her sentence, Naruto cut in. "For Gaara?" She said. Tsunade smiled and nodded her head. "Well, a little watchful eyes for our allied forces. Truth is, I sent a message two week ago. But I haven't receive any reply from them. I believe something happened. Other than delivering my personal message, I also want you to check it out." Tsunade explain to Naruto.

Naruto nodded in understanding and smiled, "You can count on me, Baa-chan! Am I going alone?" She looked at Tsunade. "No! You'll have an escort with you." Tsunade said and turned her attention to the raven, "Sasuke, she's the one who you will escort!" She refered to Naruto. The raven scowled on the inside as almost every kunoichi in konoha are head over heels for him. At Tsunade's motion pointing at Sasuke, Naruto turned her head around. Their eyes met, blue meet jet black. Then Naruto rubbed the back of her neck while smiling sheepishly. In his head Sasuke cursed, 'Damn, this mission will be a long one.' He thought.

But, to his surprise, "Sorry, I didn't see you there, um... Who are you again?" Naruto asked. Sasuke is dumbfounded by the question. 'What the..? She didn't know... Me?' He asked himself. Sakura hit Naruto in the head, "You don't know?" She asked, disbelief in her eyes, "You don't know Sasuke-kun?" Naruto shook her head. She rubbed her sore head, "How should I know! I've never seen him when we were in the academy! And I've never seen him when we were training, or doing mission, or when the war broke!" Naruto said. Tsunade sighed, "Well, if you don't know, I'll explain a little. He's Uchiha Sasuke, one of the last survivor of the Uchiha clan. You probably know about the Uchiha right?" She asked.

Naruto nodded, "Of course I know. Dad also told me that he has a friend who was the head of the Uchiha when we fought together in the war. Though I know about them, never have I met them, Baa-chan." She said. Inside Sasuke's mind, he was very shock. 'So there's someone who doesn't know who am I and didn't hover over me. That's a relieve!' He thought, ' This might be interesting.'

"Well then! Naruto, Sasuke, I want you to depart today. So pack your things and meet me here again in 2 hours! This might become a long journey though, so be prepared!" Tsunade affirmed. "Yes!" The both of them answered in sync and then they left the office. In the hallway, Naruto walked and Sasuke followed behind her. Then, somebody called out to them. "Naruto-neechan!" Shouted a boy, younger than the two. Naruto recognized the voice, "Konohamaru? That's you?" She said. The boy named Konohamaru ran towards them with two of his friends and their teacher trailing behind.

"Good morning, Naruto-san!" Said the teacher. Naruto greeted him back, "Morning, Ebisu-sensei! Also, Moegi and Udon! So... You guys going to accept some missions now?" The three younger shinobi nodded. "Yup! How I wish for it to be a higher rank mission, like B-rank or even A-rank!" Konohamaru said excitedly. Naruto just laughed while seeing his juniors. "Well, I also have a mission from Baa-chan. I'll probably going to be busy after this. Not that I am not busy right now though. But way more. Which means I won't be able to spent time with you like before. So, Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, do your best 'kay!" Naruto said to them and waved goodbye. They all also waved goodbye to the two.

The walk was silent, none of them talked. Maybe because they didn't know each other yet. Once they reached the front door of the Hokage's mansion, Naruto finally broke the silence. "So, what should I call you? Your first name, or your last name?" She asked. Being someone who's not accustomed with that kind of question, Sasuke just said, "Sasuke is fine. Umm?" "Uzumaki Naruto! Just call me Naruto!" She introduced herself cheerfully. Sasuke nodded. Naruto then turned to the direction of her house. Just before she walked, "Well, see you in two hours, Sasuke!" She waved. Sasuke also waved before he, too, jumped to the direction of his house.

Two hours later, Sasuke and Naruto met again in Tsunade's office. In the room, it's not only Tsunade and Sakura, but also Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata, and Shizune. "Yo, Naruto! Heard you're going to the Sand!" Greeted Shikamaru. Neji, who stood beside Shikamaru also greeted them, "Morning, Naruto! And Uchiha-san." He said. Hinata just nodded to them, her face heated up from looking at Naruto. "Morning, guys! You guys also have missions?" Naruto greeted back. Their cheerful exchange was cut short when they heard a cough from the Hokage.

They all realize that they were in the present of Tsunade. Naruto inhaled and calmed herself down from her cheerful demeanor. She then opened her eyes with a hint of seriousness, surprising Sakura, Shikamaru, Neji, and Hinata. "Good! Nice work, Naruto!" After Tsunade said that, they realized that Naruto had a bag with her. Hinata mustered her courage to asked, "Naruto, are you going right now? You've just got back two days ago." Naruto nodded. She received a scroll from Tsunade and formed a seal sign to sealed the scroll while answering, "Yeah. I'm going right now since it seems to be important." Neji then said, "It seems like you're never in Konoha for a long time these days. You're really up to your duty, aren't you?" Naruto chuckled.

In the back, Sasuke didn't understand completely what they were talking about. He understood at least this, he had never seen Naruto in the village when he had day offs or when he's training. So he assumed that she's outside of the village when he's home. He frowned thinking about it. 'I don't really know anything about her. Aside that, she's probably quite strong.' He said to himself. He heard Tsunade dismissed Naruto and Naruto waved goodbye to her friends, taking Sasuke's hand when she realized that he wasn't paying any attention to anyone in the room, too caught up in thinking. The only thing he could heard and saw before the door closed was, "Shikamaru, I'll say hi to Temari for you!" And Shikamaru's blushing face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the second chapter. Thanks for waiting. Please tell me about how the story progressed so far. I'm not so sure if this is good.

After they left Konoha and walked for half a day, Sasuke's curiosity for the blonde won over. He had been curious when he's back to reality that Naruto had been dragging him from the Hokage's mansion to looked around and found that everyone was looking at them, more to Naruto and exchanging exited looks. Some vilagers greeted Naruto, some was asking if she was going somewhere again, some kunoichi younger than her asked for her autograph, the same with other younger shinobi, and some giving Naruto presents for the journey, mostly food. Naruto just smiled warmly to them all, surprising Sasuke that Naruto was actually popular, not only among the girls or boys, but among the villagers.

He asked Naruto while they were taking a break. "Say, Naruto. I understand that we have never met before. But, may I ask? Are you really that busy?" Sasuke looked at Naruto, waiting for Naruto to answered his question. Naruto smiled kindly before answering, "Well, I was really busy. I'm always out of the village to went to the other hidden villages for some things. Not that I mind, though." Sasuke tilted his head in a questioning manner. "So, you're like a messenger? Or-... Wait! You've always went alone?" Naruto grinned, "No, not everytime! Just when there's no other shinobi to go with me. After the war ended, the five hidden village continue to strengthen the alliance in order to gain peace. But, there's still a lot of problems, so.. You know." She said.

He nodded in understandment. "I see. That must be hard on you to always go to one village to another." Sasuke said. Naruto laughed. "Not that I mind though. Heheh... I'm not a weak person to be frank. Well, in front of my friends that is. But, I kinda like the job. I know that Baa-chan trusted me, so I'm not going to disapoint her." She said as she stretched her limbs. "Naruto, why did you call Tsunade-sama Baa-chan?" Sasuke asked again. At that, Naruto flinched. She had started calling Tsunade 'Baa-chan' from the first time they met after the Third Hokage died. Naruto was on a journey to find Tsunade with Jiraiya, one of the three Sannin and Naruto's master. Sasuke doesn't miss the slight look of pain that appeared in Naruto's sky blue eyes.

"Well, you could just say that Baa-chan is like my grandmother. She's one of the three Sannin, and when the Third died, I went to search for her with my master, also a member of the three Sannin. We kinda got close after I won a bet. Hehe." With that Naruto stucked out her tongue playfully and the pain Sasuke saw in her eyes vanished. Sasuke nodded, "That must be great. But, if you're always out of the village, how about your family?" Naruto flinched again. She then looked away for a momment, her gaze far. "Nah! My family are always with me. They're watching me from up above, and from inside me. Though I really wish I could see them one more time." Naruto said.

Sasuke's eyes widen. "Oh.. I-I'm sorry! I didn't know that..." Sasuke stuttered. Naruto just smiled. "I don't mind! And after all, you also experienced the same things. Now then! Let's go again. I think that we've had enough rest." She then said and stood up. They continued the rest of the day jumping through the trees in silence. Nightfall came, they made a campfire and took a break. "I'll go and stand watch. You just rest first." Sasuke said after they finished dinner. Naruto nodded, "Let me know if it's my turn to stand watch, Sasuke." She snuggled herself to her sleeping bag. "Yeah." Sasuke said as he jumped to one of the tree to sit down and stand watch.

The night was peaceful. Only the sound of chirping cicadas and the crackling of fire could be heard in the back ground. It's past midnight and Sasuke was still on his watch, making sure no one or nothing came close to them. Meanwhile, Naruto was fast asleep. Or that's what it's looked like. She faced her backside to Sasuke so he couldn't see. But Naruto was wide awake for a little while.

" _Naruto, I can sense a few people watching us from quite a distance!_ " Called the nine tailed fox for Naruto to stand inside her mind.

" _I know. I can feel it too! There's about 10 people watching us. They're good at erasing their presence._ " She answered. Her eyes gazing at the place those people were hiding. Naruto slowly get out of her sleeping bag and looked at where Sasuke is.

" _I think I'll switch with him first. They might attack if I'm the one on watch duty. Help me out if they're attacking and I couldn't handle them alone, Kurama!_ " Naruto said to the nine tails, Kurama. Kurama nodded.

Up on the tree, Sasuke wondered if he should wake Naruto to ask to switch. 'She looks so comfortable and I don't think I can... Heh! Since when did I became a softie. Especialy to a girl.' He thought to himself. He sighed and about ready to jumped off the tree to woke Naruto up when he heard someone calling. "Sasuke! Let's switch! You must be tired!" Sasuke peered down and almost fell when he saw Naruto already halfway to his place. "Y-you scared me! I couldn't even tell you're here!" He put a hand on his chest and one on the tree for balance. Naruto almost laughed at the expression. "Sorry, sorry!" She managed to choke while trying to supressed her laughter.

"Well, I'll take care of this! You just rest!" Naruto climbed up the way to his side. Sasuke sighed and nodded then went to the campfire and laid out his sleeping bag. Naruto watched him for a momment. And when she's sure that he's asleep, she jumped to where she could feel those people watching them in full speed. In just a matter of second, Naruto was standing in front of them, startling them all. "So, what do you all want from us, huh? Following and watching us like that." Naruto said to the person in front of her. The person fell on his butt and suddenly, they all ran away.

Naruto blinked, "Huh.. That's unexpected. I thought they are bandits or something." She exclaimed. Kurama chuckled.

" _They're probably scared to bits just now!_ " He said. Naruto turned her heels back to the camp site. 'I think they won't be coming back tonight. But please help me keep an eye on them, Kurama.' She tought and sat down on the branch again after checking that Sasuke didn't wake up.

The next morning, they set out immediately after they had a little breakfast. The journey to the Sand was still a long way to go. And they agreed that they'll do it without wasting much time. The second day was no problem and they have passed the border. They chatted while they're moving, mostly about the village though. Then when night came, they stayed inside a cave that they found and they continued the next morning. But this time, they could tell something is wrong.

"Sasuke, did you feel that?" Naruto asked her partner. Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, I could feel it. So, what should we do?" He asked back. Naruto thought for a while and then made up her mind. "If they're not attacking, then it's fine. Let's just continue. But if they are, we'll attack right back at them." She said. Sasuke nodded, but he kept an eye on their followers. "Ah! There's the Sand." Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke looked in front of him and true, the Hidden Village of Sand was in sight. But just then when Sasuke lower his guard, Naruto sensed that the people following them were ready to attack.

Naruto then ran faster to catch up with Sasuke to warned him about the change of plan. She stopped in front of Sasuke the momment she caught up with him. "Sasuke, they're in position and ready to launch an attack!" Naruto wishpered to Sasuke. Sasuke immediately stopped on his track. Right after that, ninjas appeared before them. "About thirty! They also had weapons!" Naruto sighed, "This was supposed to be an easy mission." She said as she took a defensive stance. Sasuke nodded behind her, straightening his body and walked in front of Naruto. Naruto blinked, "I was given a mission to escort you. There's no way I'll let you get hurt!" Sasuke said after reading Naruto's puzzled expression.


	3. Chapter 3

Sasuke took a defensive stance and activated his sharingan. 'Ah! That's the sharingan. The same as...' Before Naruto could finish her thought, the enemies attacked. Sasuke immediately switch from defense to attack. The front row of shinobi who attacked them are immediately defeated by Sasuke with his katon jutsu. Some of them attacked from behind, aiming for Naruto. But she defeated them with taijutsu. "They're not very strong. Could it be that they are genin or chunin shinobi?" Sasuke suddenly asked while deflecting some attackers. "I think so too! But still, their weapons are quite dangerous! Try not to get their weapon to scratch you!" Naruto said between her attacks.

Naruto and Sasuke were fighting back to back, protecting each others back. Suddenly, a shinobi jumped from the side, attacking Naruto's and Sasuke's back making the both of them jumped forward. Immediately after that, they are surrounded by the other shinobi who can still fight. "Damn! Naruto!" Sasuke cursed. "I'm okay! Just focus on your fight, Sasuke!" Naruto cried out. Naruto and Sasuke were overwhelming the fight, making their attackers falter. From thirty shinobi, only about ten shinobi left. Sasuke defeated most of them. From the corner of her eyes, Naruto could see the resemblance of him and his brother. 'Well, not that I mind.' She thought herself.

Suddenly, Naruto is backed up against a sand wall made by the shinobi. 'Damn! Are they from the sand? But, Gaara is..' She thought but then she sense Gaara's chakra somewhere near. "Gaara..." She said under her breath then she smiled. 'Yup! There's no way Gaara would let this kind of things happened. Gaara's is furious at these guys.' She glanced at Sasuke who's still fighting. 'Well, at least we're not really in danger. Except...' She ducked a kick that's coming her way. Suddenly, behind her, a shinobi launched a surprise attack. Not that she didn't know that he's there, but she just didn't expect him to attack.

But still, it took her by surprise. For about 3 second, she rendered immobile. But then readied herself for the upcoming attack, and to attack back. Sasuke saw this from the corner of his eyes. He immediately moved his body to where Naruto was to protect her. And just like that, the weapon their attacker used scratched Sasuke quite deep on the chest. He groaned in pain as he and Naruto fell back. "Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed after she process what's happening. Sasuke then tried to stand up, but failed due to the pain. Their attackers surrounded them, grinning their mouth off. Naruto leaned Sasuke to herself as her eyes glared angrily at their attackers.

"At first, I didn't want to do anything that will really hurt you all. But, it seems that I can no longer do that as you've hurt one of us." Naruto growled, anger dominating her tone and a flash of golden could be seen in her eyes briefly. Their attackers flinched at her tone and getting ready again to attack just before they are trapped within some sand straddling them. "Gaara!" Naruto shouted right after she saw the sand. The red-head quickly darted to Naruto's side, looking at her and her companion. "I'm so sorry I'm late! I'll take these guys into custody. And I'll immediately prepare a room for your partner, Naruto!" Said Gaara once he saw Sasuke's wound. Naruto nodded. Sasuke forced himself to say, "I'm fine! It's just a... scratch.." Before he loses his conciousness.

"Damn poison!" Naruto cursed as she caught Sasuke's limp body. Gaara help Naruto to caught the guy, then he assured Naruto, "Naruto, don't worry about the poison. We've already done research on it and already had the antidote." Naruto sighed in relief. "Good! I also have some things that I need to ask these guys. Don't think I'll be gentle if I know that my partner won't be able to heal!" Naruto snapped at their attackers. Gaara then helped Naruto to carry Sasuke to the Sand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess that this chapter is shorter than the two before. Sorry. I have an exam coming, so I'm focusing on my studies.


	4. Chapter 4

Sasuke flinched when he tried to open his eyes for the first time. The light in the room was really bright for his eyes to see. He blinked a few time to adjusted his sight from the brightness. After his eyes fully adjusted to the room, he scanned the room. 'This must be the hospital' he thought. After he regained his senses, he noticed that he's not alone in the room. He tried to move to a sitting position to look at the other person. To his surprise, "Naruto...?" He whispered. "Oh, so you're awake!" A voice surprised him and he jolted, eyes widen. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just glad that you've already regain conciousness." The man, standing at the door, said to him with reasuring tone.

Sasuke nodded his head, "Umm, what happened? Why am I..?" He trailed off, looking at Naruto's form. "Ah! You fainted because of a poison. We've already neutralized the poison and the wound have been treated. Your life is in no danger!" The other said. Sasuke didn't know the man, 'Though he seems like someone important in the Sand.' he thought. Seeing Sasuke's confusion, the man smiled a little. He then walked toward Sasuke's bed, wrapping a coat down Naruto's shoulder. "Umm, why is Naruto here?" Sasuke asked, nervously. "She said that she'll wait for you to wake up. And so, she hadn't move an inch since you guys arrived, which is about 8 hours ago." The man answered with a caring voice, just portraying his care for the sleeping girl.

Sasuke then looked down, blaming himself because he's not careful enough that in the end, Naruto, the person he should be protecting was protecting him. It seems the man could see the regrets plastered in Sasuke's face, he then chuckled, very rare indeed. "You've done everything the best way you could, so do not blame yourself. Naruto is not a weak girl. You should have seen it in the fight. By the way, I am Gaara, the Kazekage. I have heard your name from Naruto. But if you would, please introduce yourself." Gaara said. "Uchiha Sasuke..." Eyes widen at the claim Gaara said to be Kazekage. Gaara smiled. "Please do not wake Naruto. She stayed awake for filling me in the details of your mission while I know that she was worried and tired. And I am sure that it is emotionally exhausting for her. And it will be better if you also take some rest, once again. Your body should be back to normal tomorrow." He then said.

Sasuke nodded and then laid back again. After Gaara left the room, sleep consumed Sasuke. After another hour or so, Naruto stirred a bit. Her eyes blinked a few time behind her hands. She felt warm and glanced to her shoulder to find a coat wrapped around her. 'Is this Gaara's? It's warm. Umm.. Sasuke is still asleep...' She thought as she stretched. She then get off her seat and walked to the window. The sun was nearly setting, telling her that night almost came. "Oh, I slept. It's evening already." Naruto whispered once she saw the orange sky. Then she sensed someone from the door. A young shinobi came into the room, bringing two plates full of food in a tray.

"Naruto-sama, I've brought you some snacks. You must be hungry. After all, you haven't eaten anything ever since you arrived, Naruto-sama." The shinobi said. Naruto looked at the young man and blushed when she heard her tummy grumbled. She laughed sheepishly and accepting the food. "Thank you! I appreciated this." Naruto said. The man smiled and leave. Then she grabbed the food and began eating.

A while later, Sasuke squirmed in his bed, eyes fluttering open. Naruto immediately jolted forward. Her eyes looking at Sasuke intensely, waiting for his vision to adjusted with the room, worry plastered on her face. Once Sasuke was awake completely, Naruto's expression turned to that of relief. She sighed gladly and sat back down.

"Naruto?" Sasuke said groggily. Naruto smiled brightly, "Yup! How are you feeling, Sasuke?" She said. Sasuke nodded in his sleeping position, telling her that he was fine. Naruto handed him the other plate of snack that was brought for them. "Here! One of the shinobi delivered us snacks not too long ago. You haven't eaten anything since this morning too right?" Naruto said while grabbing her own serving with her other hand.

Sasuke scooted into a sitting position and accepted the plate. They began eating in silence. Only after a while later that Sasuke spoke, "Naruto... I'm sorry." He said. Naruto looked up and blinked. "Huh? What? Why?" She said, definitely confused. Sasuke looked down for a momment before continuing. "I was sent to become your escort. But, not only I failed and got hurt, you have to protected me in the end. I am very ashamed of myself."

Naruto's eyes widen in shocked. She could see Sasuke's regrets. 'I see. He has never failed before when he's working with others. And now that he failed once, it became such a burden.' She thought. She then chuckled. Sasuke raised his head in a split second to looked at Naruto.

"Don't worry about it, Sasuke! I'm fine anyway, right? And, even if I'm hurt, it'll heal right away." Naruto replied, trying to make Sasuke feels better. "Huh? What do you mean you'll heal right away?" Sasuke asked. But before Naruto could answer the question, someone slammed open the door.

Sasuke could only make out the outline of the person in the front door before the person ran toward Naruto. A not so long pale blonde hair tied in a twin tail a little above and another twin tail a little below wearing black top and skirt with purple lines and a person clad in black with purple tattoo all over his face that he coulnd't make out carrying a bundle that looked like scrolls behind his back.

Naruto looked at their direction not the least surprised like she had known that they would come. In a matter of second, the kunoichi had been in front of Naruto, grabbing her hand and frantically looking all around Naruto's body. While the other shinobi just stood behind the kunoichi, looking worried. Naruto smiled at them, a reasuring smile, before the other blonde kunoichi spoke, "You're really ok?" Naruto nodded. The kunoichi and the other shinobi sighed in relief.

"I was so worried when I heard that you're in this room. This room has become the Kazekage's private hospital room for special guest or someone special! Or bad news!" The kunoichi said, looking pissed off. Naruto chuckled and hugged the girl. "It's fine, Temari. You know I'm not weak. I'll heal right away after all." Naruto said to the kunoichi named Temari.

"You are strong enough, but still as reckless as you've always been. And we're such an idiot to have worried about you." The one with the tattoo smiled pitily at himself. "Kankurou! You know that you shouldn't have said that, y'know?" Temari scolded Kankurou while Naruto just giggled. "I'm not hurt, but my colleagues is. The doctor and Gaara said that he'll be as good as new tommorow, aside from the wound of course." Naruto said while she glanced at Sasuke.

"That's good! Because we have something that we must tell you and needed your help with." Gaara said from the door. Naruto and Sasuke looked at his direction. Temari and Kankurou turned around to looked at their little brother too. "You better get yourself comfy first. This will take a while." Gaara said. "Is this okay, Gaara? Have you talked to the councils about this?" Temari said, taking a seat on the chair next to Naruto. "I have. They said it's probably the best way right now. And I don't think keeping this from Naruto will fix anything." He answered.

"She's already involved in this afterall. While we're at it, we need to get this through to the Alliance. And by telling this to Naruto, it'll be easier for the Allied Shinobi to get the information." Kankurou said. The siblings nodded. "So. What's exactly happening around here? How long had this happened?" Naruto asked in a very serious tone.

"About 2 or 3 weeks ago, some shinobi from the village began disappearing. Strangely, not a chuunin or jounin shinobi. All of them were genin. But those genin have experienced the war. And soon after, when we tried to notified the other village, the messenger got poisoned. It's the same place you guys was attacked. It's like they didn't wanted us to get informations in and out of the village. They wanted to secluded us. We have received the Hokage's letter. But we cannot give a reply. The bird Konoha sent got hurt. And everytime we tried to send another messenger bird, the bird got hurt too." Gaara explained. Naruto and Sasuke listened intently. After a good amount of time, Gaara finished. But, that's not the end of the problem at the Kazekage's hands it seemed.


	5. Chapter 5

The only thing that you could decipher from Naruto's expression was that of anger. The same could be said with Sasuke. After hearing Gaara's explanation about the attack, Naruto's face turned sour.

"There's no way I'm letting them do whatever they pleased." Naruto growled under her teeth. The look in her eyes changed into something more fierce, more threatening and dangerous. Gaara nodded in respond to her statement. "That's why I asked Temari and Kankuro to looked into it first hand. We wanted to have knowledge on this rebellious... group." He said, "And that's also why right now, we needed help from you, Naruto. We couldn't let this slipped by. Or else the other Hidden Village would think that the Sand declared war."

Naruto glanced at her friend. She thought for a while and then, "Okay, I wanted every details you could get on those people. Their base, their possible leader, their number, their motive, the evidence of their rebellion. Well, mostly about exactly when those shinobi began disappearing. Also, I wanted to know what Kankurou and Temari found out during their investigation." She said. Gaara nodded, Temari and Kankuro gaped at Naruto. "One question." Suddenly, Sasuke who's been silent spoke, waiting for permission to asked. "What is it, Uchiha-san?" Gaara asked.

"If what you were saying is correct, then why did they only stayed at the Sand territory?" Sasuke asked. Gaara and Naruto looked at each other before Temari broke the silence. "They probably haven't decide what to do, or who their targets is. Though we have some prediction of who their target was, it was all still vague." She explained. "Either it's the Kazekage, or it's one of the Bijuu." Naruto suddenly said, "Or something connected to it. That is if we conclude on their behavior up until now." Sasuke looked at Gaara and Naruto who seemed to know more about what they are talking about.

"Or, they really didn't know where their target is. That's also a possibility as not all the truth about the war was told and only the shinobi who fought and survived the war knows of it." Gaara stated. Naruto looked down. "Then... There's a possibility that they're aiming for Octopops or... me." She whispered, making all of them went silent as I'd expecting it to be said. "Huh?" Sasuke looked confused. Gaara just closed his eyes. "Gaara, should we hold a council meeting? With Naruto here, we could make a move under her supervision as the allied forces main figure." Kankuro sugested to Gaara.

Gaara nodded, "We don't have a choice. Naruto, I'll be coming to get you after I get the council meeting ready. Kankurou, Temari, please call on our jounin to guard the entrance wall. We don't want to risk the lives of ordinary villagers." Then he stood up and left, with Temari and Kankurou behind him, leaving Sasuke and Naruto in the room. "Sasuke, are you okay with this?" Naruto asked, breaking the silence. "I mean, we were only supposed to deliver the letter and get back to Konoha. But, as things progressed, I don't think that I could go back before this thing's settled. Are you okay with that? If it was just me, I'll be fine. But..." Naruto said, concern filling her voice.

Sasuke hadn't said anything. He just stared at Naruto's earnest blue eyes. The blonde could really get sentimental sometimes, and it proved to be now. Naruto never wanted to burden anyone with something heavy as this. She always held true to herself and bear all the burden, just like at the war. The head of the spear, the leader. Sasuke didn't know why Naruto was so worried about this. "I mean, if you wanted to go back first ahead of me, you could do just that. I'll be fine on my own." Her voice broke the silence.

Sasuke shook his head. He motion for Naruto to come closer. "Once I have made a decision, no one can stop me. And I've made a decision, that is to protect you until we're back to Konoha." He whispered to Naruto, smiling when he saw pink tinted her cheeks. Naruto looked away from Sasuke, pouting. "Then, you'll have to stick with me 'till this mission over then." She said smiling happily after she regained her composure.

Gaara came to the room when the sun had set completely, telling Naruto that the council meeting was ready. Naruto then went with Gaara after she asked one of the jounin shinobi guarding her to take care of Sasuke. After Naruto left, Sasuke lied down meanwhile the jounin shinobi just stood near the door, literaly guarding Sasuke. After a while, Sasuke got bored. He then tried to engaged the jounin to a chat.

"So, umm, may I ask your name? I am Sasuke." He started. After a while he didn't get a reply, he thought he didn't want to talk to him. Until he heard a reply, "I'm Ginjo. Nice to finaly talk with you, Uchiha-sama!" Sasuke was surprised to be called formally.

"Just call me Sasuke. There are another Uchiha after all somewhere." Sasuke said, he tried to make the bed into a position where he wouldn't have to lie down completely. It was getting annoying to always changing his position, especially with his wound. Ginjo realized and helped Sasuke to stack some pillow underneath Sasuke's head. "Oh, yes! I have heard of it. The last survivor of the Uchiha clan were 2 people, which will be you and your brother. I have also heard that you and your brother are quite a strong shinobi!" Ginjo exclaimed excitedly. Sasuke laughed bitterly, "If I am as strong as you thought I'd be, I would be able to protect Naruto without getting hurt or poisoned." Sasuke said, "And, I'm not as strong as others who actually survived the war. I heard that lots was killed."

Ginjo nodded "But, don't you know Sasuke-sama? The person who started the war was also an Uchiha! I heard that the name was Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Madara!" Sasuke was surprised hearing this bit of information that's basically new to him. He hadn't heard of Uchiha Obito's name. But he surely had heard about Madara, as he is one of the founder of Konoha along with the First Hokage. Ginjo could see the disbelieve in Sasuke's eyes and realized that he was not supposed to tell him too much. But, the milk was already spilled. Sasuke's interest had peaked.

"Did you participated in the war, Ginjo?" Sasuke asked. Ginjo nodded awkwardly. Sasuke beamed at the answer. "Then please tell me more! Especially about the front line battle!" Sasuke said, more like a demand. Ginjo just sighed. When excited, Sasuke would stop at nothing it seemed.

"Very well, but I must say this first. I did fight in the front line, but only for a momment. If you wanted to hear the full story of this Madara and Obito and the war, you have to asked what they called the head of the spear on the war. You can also asked this from the current five kage, or the Konoha Eleven, or Raikage-sama's brother Bee-sama, or Kakashi-san and Gai-san, or the past Hokages! Oh, also Naruto-sama. I couldn't tell you who the person is, but you could asked them!" Ginjo said.

"Konoha Eleven? Konoha had something like that? And the past Hokages? How's that even possible?" Sasuke asked confused. Ginjo nodded, "It's supposedly the Konoha Twelve. But one of the member was killed at the war. You know, Naruto-sama is also a part of Konoha Eleven. If I'm not wrong, someone by the name of Neji and Shikamaru are part of it. As for the Hokages, I didn't know for sure. But some people said that the Hokages were an Edo-Tensei. They were defending the allied forces with the leaders. And I thought that they have died and put their weapons down." Ginjo explained, "I really was just a minor character in the war. I didn't have anymore information to share regarding that matter."

Sasuke nodded in understanding. "I'll try to ask Naruto once I got the chance. But could you tell me about this Madara and Obito?" Ginjo blinked.

"Why, of course. Not much again I have to say, but I know a little bit. Hearing from someone who fight near the main battle ground, it seems that Obito could passed through wall. No, anything! And, seems like Kakashi-san knew them. They are trying to gathered all the Bijuu to create a wide genjutsu that's spread throughout the whole shinobi world. And Madara, he was monstrously strong. No one could win againts him in the force. His jutsus was deadly, not to mention godly. Though, in the end, there's someone who could stop him."

Sasuke was dumbfounded. Someone could be as strong as, no, even stronger that his strongest anchestor. He really wanted to met this person. After a few chit chat with Ginjo, Sasuke could heard footsteps behind the door. The door flew open a few second after to show Naruto and Gaara, both with some serious face. Both seemed determined. "So... How did the meeting go, Naruto?" After a while, Sasuke decided to asked. Naruto turned her head toward Sasuke. There was a glint in her eyes.

"Get yourself ready! We're going to their base tomorrow afternoon!."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for waiting. This is another chapter. If this is not interesting enough, please tell me. I'll make it more interesting in the upcoming chapters.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter. Thanks for waiting.

A group of shinobi could be seen running through the endless sand to the north from the Sand village. The sun wasn't friendly with them today as it was blazing in the sky like there's no tomorrow. In the front of the group, stood a golden head and a red head. The Kazekage and Naruto. They didn't mind the sun, as they have something far more important to do than to complain about the weather.

In the night, they had agreed to take off in the afternoon to the base that Temari and Kankurou had found on their mission. Since Naruto figured that Sasuke didn't wanted to be left out, Naruto considered to take off after Sasuke had recover enough for him to run. Now, Sasuke was in the group with Naruto and Gaara, along with Temari, Kankurou, some anbu working under the Kazekage, and a few jounin.

A little later, they came across the small base that Temari and Kankurou found. The occupants there were surprised when they sensed the group and immediately scattered around towards the north too, to warned their higher ups it seemed. The group followed a great distance as to not allert the enemy too much. Soon, the enemy's troops reached their destination and so did Naruto's group.

"Welcome, Kazekage! And group, to our humble base!" Said a woman in short brown hair. Her voice was sweet and alluring, much like a siren. "Please come here, my lord. And we'll discuss about all this." The woman said, gesturing for Gaara to come. Strangely, they all had stopped on track once they heard the woman's voice. And once the gesture was done, Gaara immediately but slowly started to move forward. Naruto, whose mind barely on the verge of consciousness, realized the change in the air.

"Seems like you got yourself into some kind of trouble, kid!" Kurama pulled Naruto into her consciousness, deep within her own mind where nothing could come or disturb them.

"Kurama! Why- I can't move? What's happening?" Naruto panicked.

"Calm down, kid! I could explained this, and I don't want you to have me repeat myself!" Kurama said. Red eyes opening up from his sleep, and starring at Naruto's clear blue eyes. Naruto stopped panicking and readied herself to hear some explanation.

"It's some kind of a genjutsu. She controlled all of you with a wide-range genjutsu. Oddly enough, all of you are trapped in it right now." Kurama said, eyes narrowing dangerously.

In the surface of Naruto's consciousness, Naruto could hear the woman said, "Well, I didn't think that the Kazekage himself would come. Though it is easier this way to know where the last two Jinchuuriki and Bijuu were hiding. Pity that the Kazekage was a former jinchuuriki that had his bijuu taken. Else, we would be jumping up and low in joy." Mock was written in her voice, thought it's still sweet and alluring.

"Oh, so that's their intention. No wonder about it." Kurama said, anger in his voice clearly seeped out. Naruto just looked at Kurama and smirked. But then she realized.

"Kurama! How did I break the genjutsu? I can't even move move my hands to form seals. And I couldn't control my chakra flow!" Naruto asked in mid panicked. Kurama nodded and sat up from his laying position.

"I'll sent my chakra to your ears to block her genjutsu. You better do something about your friends afterward. I don't like where this is going. And you better keep me a secret from her. As I have said, I don't like this. At all. Gives me the creep to look at her. We also don't know their abilities yet. So better be careful than regretting it latter." Kurama said as he sent the perfect amount of chakra to Naruto's ears to blocked the genjutsu, not enough for the woman to sensed it but enough to freed Naruto. Immediately, Naruto could get a hold of her body again. Just as she did, the woman called upon her to also come forward.

Naruto, who just got freed out of the genjutsu, played along with it. 'To safe Gaara first, then the others.' She thought as she walked forward. The woman smiled evilly and Naruto could already felt her intention. 'She wanted to try and make Gaara and me her puppets. If I didn't get Gaara to safety, this will get screwd.' Naruto raked his brain to find an answer then she remembered.

'Ears!' After she stood behind Gaara close enough, she coated her hands with chakra. Immediately, she brought her two hands to Gaara's ears. She sent her chakra and blocked Gaara's ears with it, releasing Gaara from the genjutsu.

"W-what?" Gaara's eyes widen. So did the woman's. The woman lunged forward to grab Gaara's hand and Naruto reacted immediately. She jumped backward as the woman neared them, to their friends side, tugging Gaara's body with her. Gaara whipped his head towards Naruto after he saw the woman tumbled and fell down. "What just happen?" He asked, confused. Naruto smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry for practically dragging you, Gaara. But, it's better than to have you fall into her hands. And now, be on your guard as I freed our friends." Naruto said as she began to walked toward the three jounin and did the same as she did with Gaara. Then to the Anbu, to Kankurou, Temari, then Sasuke.

Sasuke blinked when he saw Naruto smiling in front of him. "What? Wha- why am I- why are you starring at me?" He asked, confused. So did the other. Naruto laughed at their dazed expression. "You! How did you-!? You break my hypnotize!" The woman practically shouted, anger bubbled around her. Naruto stepped up and glarred at the woman. "Seems like someone used underhanded methods to gather informations." Naruto snarled at the woman. The woman's face went red, either from embarrassment or rage.

She then fumbbled herself up and clenched her fist. Her facial expression showed that she's no longer going to be easy with them, and Naruto immediately mottion her friends to get close to her. Gaara went to Naruto's side in a blink of an eye, the jounin, Anbu, Temari and Kankurou followed after, but Sasuke just stood there confused. Temari saw this and went to Sasuke, grabbed his upper arm, and tugged him harshly to Naruto's side. "Ouch! Hey, that's hurts!" Sasuke grimaced. "It's better than to have you stood there and become her prey. At least listen to what Naruto have to say first!" Temari scolded. Naruto just smiled sheepishly before she raised her arm and threw a smoke ball to the ground, hiding the group from view with a newly form smoke screen.

"Alright, here's the plan! Gaara, use your sand to lift all of you up. I'll cover you with another smoke screen above this one and you guys stayed there. I'm going to try and capture her. And don't make yourselves known! Okay?" Naruto explain after she turned around, just a whisper. "But, Naruto!" Gaara and Sasuke said at the same time, completely worried about her plan. "If we wanted to uncover the mystery, we needed this! Trust me! I'll be alive! You should know more about me, Gaara. We've known each other since that chuunin exam where we met. You should have known about me and my personality since you were fighting me with Shukaku of the Sand." Naruto said, convincing her friends.

Gaara nodded hesitantly before Kankurou spoke his loud mouth, "And having almost killed her and Sakura and that Sai guy on the way." and received a good whack across his head from Temari. Sasuke's eyes went wide for a second and changing looks between Naruto and Gaara who just close their eyes, reminiscing. Never he would have thought that the two best friend have some past like that. Naruto then glance at Sasuke for approval. Sasuke just nodded. "Alright! Get ready!" Naruto then fished up two other smoke balls in her left hand and on her right hand, Naruto prepared her jutsu. "You ready, Gaara?" Once everything's ready, Gaara lifted the whole group with his sand, except Naruto, and waited until Naruto threw the smoke balls upward. The smoke balls then collided with the Fuuton: Mini Rasenshuriken that Naruto had prepared in advance, creating a wide smoke screen in the air above the first one bellow.

The woman, as Naruto expected, looked up and Naruto immediately threw kunais at her. She dodged the kunais coming at her and her attention switched again to the smoke screen bellow that had began to cleared. Naruto smirked, her friend's escape was a success and now, the hard part began. "Unforgiveable! You let your friends run away and you're here to stall them? Pathetic!" The woman growled angrily. "Not as pathetic as you though, for using cowardly method to secure informations!" Naruto spat out. The woman then shouted incoherent things, pulled out a kunai, then went to attack Naruto. Naruto drew a kunai from her sleeve and the two kunai collided, blade vs blade. The sound of metal hitting metal rang through the air and the atmosphere turned tense with all the fighting done right there.

The woman seemed used to do hand-in-hand combat. She could dodge all of Naruto's kicks. But Naruto's skill in taijutsu were not bad either. After all those training she went through with Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Yamato, even with Gai and Lee, her skill were top notch. Soon, Naruto could cornered her opponent with ease. Their breath quickened a bit but they were still on each other edge. The woman attacked again, and Naruto went defensive. But after that, the woman left an oppening and it didn't passed by Naruto. So she took her opportunity to launched an attack.

The smoke screen in the air started to clear, showing shadowy figures of Naruto's comrades on the Kazekage's sand. All looking down at the battle occuring down bellow them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder if the ability is even possible in the real manga or anime. I hope they make sense. Anyway, please reviews and tell me what I should do to inprove my work. Thanks.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the late update. I didn't have time yesterday as I was helping my family doing some work. So here is another chapter. Thanks.

Several set of eyes peered down from the sky as the smoke cleared. Worry plastered on their faces. Sasuke was the one who worry the most of all. "Gaara-sama, shouldn't we helped her or something?" Sasuke looked at Gaara. Gaara looked toward the battle field and said, "I also wanted to help her out. But she told all of us not to intervene. If her life is not in any danger, then we will not do against he will." Sasuke gazed down again. Seeing Naruto able to held her ground against the woman made Sasuke realize that Naruto was not an ordinary woman. She was strong and brave. She could protect herself from many danger that came lurking for her. And this made Sasuke realize that he and Naruto were not that different in strength.

For the second time after his meeting with Naruto, Sasuke was overcome with a pang of guilt. 'My mission was to protect her. Not looking at her getting hurt from a safe place.' He thought. "Calm down, Sasuke! Naruto is strong. And right now, no one in their right mind would want to fight with her. That woman is just a crazy one." Temari said to calm Sasuke down. It helped a little. They watched for a little longer, watching the woman being backed off by Naruto. The woman then tumbled and hit the ground. Naruto was winning the battle.

A moment of silence, nothing and no one moved. Naruto neared the woman in silent steps. She reached out her hand and the woman looked at her in confusion. "I don't want to kill you. Please come with us quietly. We only had a few things to ask. And we might not have to put you into prison if you're willing to help us. Please?" Naruto said as she saw the woman's confused looks. The woman gaped at her, pure shocked and disbelieve. "Are you crazy? You are saying that you will not kill me if I cooperate with you and spill everything?" The woman said in a soft voice. Naruto nodded and smiled.

The woman head bent down. "I don't think I could do just that. My intentions are not mine alone as you can see. But I will surrendered myself. I have lost and will not fight back. You could bring me back to your village." The woman said. She stood up and hold her hands toward Naruto for Naruto to tied. Naruto sighed and searched around her pouch for something she could use to tied the woman. After she had found it, she stepped closer to the woman. But when she was about to tie the rope to the woman's hand, the woman launched at Naruto. Surprised, Naruto didn't have time to fully dodged the woman's attack. The woman easily pinned Naruto down to the sand. Naruto grunted at the sand hitting her backside. The woman smirked evilly. "My, my, girl. You are such a foolish one, are you not? To believe that I will just give in. You should have known that I am one to be feared." The woman said, triumphantly.

Sasuke panicked from up there. Seeing the situation turn around almost immediately. "Naruto!" Sasuke said panicked, but only about a whisper. A hand grabbed Sasuke's shoulder. He looked back and saw that it was Kankurou. "You don't have to worry, Sasuke! Naruto should be able to do something about it. If she's not caught in her so called hypnotize." Kankurou said. "Not to mention, that woman is not that strong. Maybe we could help Naruto a bit. What do you say, Gaara?" Temari continue. Gaara looked down just as worried. "Then, Temari. Please use your wind technique. It will seems... More natural." Gaara said. Temari smirked and jumped, she readied her humongous fan. A second later, a fast wind swirled through the dessert at the swing of Temari's fan. Naruto looked up and could see her friends trying to help her by blinding the woman who upped her.

She smiled a bit and with all her strength, she pushed the woman off her and while the woman was claiming herself, Naruto tied the woman's wrist. "Damn!" The woman shouted. Naruto sighed and crouched beside the woman. "Sorry, I have to do this. Your subordinates are still inside right? Hey, guys! Why not round out the soldiers? The queen's been captured. See if your genin were amongs them all!" With the cue, Sasuke immediately jumped down, followed with Gaara, Temari, Kankurou, and the others. "Nice job, Naruto!" Kankurou said while tapping her shoulder. Naruto grinned, "Not going to be like this if not for Temari's help, though. Thanks!" Kankurou laughed a little, "I don't think you mean that. I'm sure you at least have another plan in mind if that happened." Naruto smirked and stuck her tongue out. Sasuke looked at Naruto who talked with Gaara now to arranged an interview for the woman by some Anbu.

Naruto noticed the look that Sasuke gave her. She turned her head to Sasuke as soon as she finished talking with Gaara and made her way to him. "Sasuke? Are you alright?" Naruto asked concerned. Sasuke shook his head to clear his thought away. "Just thinking. You're strong. Why would someone like you needed to have an escort while you could take care of yourself?" Sasuke said bitterly. Sasuke was fretting over something small, well, not that big, at least. Naruto stood there looking at Sasuke. Then she smiled a sad smile. 'You don't know, Sasuke. I would like to tell you, but you wouldn't like it. So, I'm going to keep it to myself for now.' She thought before literally answered his question. "This mission was more than it seemed. It's much too dangerous to went alone. That's why you are needed to escort me. Sasuke, did you regret coming with me to the Sand?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke's head shook, "Of course not. Why would you think like that?" Naruto smiled and took Sasuke's hand with her own. "Thank you. I'm glad that you're the one who come with me this time, Sasuke." Naruto's grip tighten, not enough to hurt Sasuke but enough to tell Sasuke that he's really needed by Naruto's side. Looking into bright blue eyes, Sasuke could see some sadness but was held strong by something blazing inside. "Well, then! Seems like the others had a little trouble. Let's help them out." Naruto let go of Sasuke's hand and joined the others. Sasuke grinned a bit before joining too.

"You are not going to stop our plan! We'll definitely find out where the last two jinchuuriki are and get all the bijuu. This is just the begining. My sisters and brothers will definitely get all of the informations!" The woman snarled as she was taken away. Naruto was obviously not happy with the statement. Gaara put his hand on Naruto's shoulder while the others stood beside her and gave them their support. "Don't worry, Naruto. We'll protect you and the remaining bijuu. Since this is solved, let's go back. I'll have letters sent to the other villages, regarding this situation." Gaara said. Naruto nodded then followed by the others, she walked back to the Sand.

Reaching the Sand, many had welcomed them back. Many cheering for them as they came back safely. Gaara immediately set up rooms and interogation squad to question the captured and to actually found out the jutsus the woman did. He then proceed to his office. Naruto and Sasuke followed behind as the three siblings walked. Once inside Gaara's office, they all slumped down on the available chairs and sofas. "Ugh! Why do we have to deal with this again? And the target were the bijuu after all." Kankurou whined. Gaara sighed as he moved behind his desk, grabbing a scroll, and began writing. "We don't know their motives. Personal, or organization. But now, at least we know what the target and that they still don't know who they are. Or where they are." Said Gaara as he wrote. Temari also exhaled a deep breath before saying, "But there's not enough information. What are they after with trying to take Gaara?"

"As easy as it looks," Naruto said and everyone looked at her, "Gaara was once the jinchuuriki of Shukaku. And the only one alive of the other jinchuuriki who had their bijuu extracted. So of course, it makes Gaara the perfect person to be asked, since they haven't know their so-called prize, yet." The statement was a whisper, only loud for the people in the room. "They are probably interested on how Gaara is still alive." Temari said. "I don't really get what you guys are saying. But I believe it's quite dangerous. So, what are your next move, Naruto?" Sasuke asked. Naruto took a glance at the window, then back to Sasuke before answering, "For now, we'll take a rest. Then let's go back to Konoha."

"Back to Konoha? What about this then? You'll just ignore this... This problem?" Sasuke asked, a little bit irritated. Nasuro shook her head and smiled reasuringly. "Of course not! We'll asked Tsunade-baachan about this. Even though Gaara is the Kazekage, if this is concerning the remaining Jinchuuriki we have to consult this with all villages. For now, I'll have Tsunade-baachan get a meeting ready in Konoha. Then if possible, we'll hold a meeting for the five kage." With that, Naruto left no arguments.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter. Enjoy.

One week after the incident at the Sand, both Naruto and Sasuke arrived back at Konoha. Their friends had been waiting for them, especially Konoha Eleven. Tsunade was also there, after receiving the letter from Gaara, she had even made preparation to hold a council meeting to talk about this as the two arrived. "Good work, you two. Both of you may go home first. I'll call upon you when the councils are ready. Sakura, check if they have any injuries." Tsunade said as she beamed at them. Naruto smiled and with Sasuke followed Sakura so that she could checked them. "So, Naruto. What exactly happened at the Sand? Were they ok?" Sakura asked while they walked.

"Don't worry about them, Sakura-chan. Gaara and the others were fine. Not even a bruise. One couldn't be said for Sasuke though." Naruto said after looking at Sasuke's direction. Sakura took a glance at the two following her. Sasuke looked away from Naruto and Sakura while Naruto laughed at the reaction she got from Sasuke. Sakura smiled, 'Seems like Naruto found someone that could make her smile like that time again.' She thought. "So, it means that Sasuke-kun is hurt, huh?" Sakura said and nodded casually. "Yeah..." Naruto said as they reached the hospital.

Sakura examined them at once after they enter the examination room. Sakura smiled in relieve after she finished with her task. "Well, like Naruto said, Sasuke kun got slashed in the front. But it's not life threatening and it's already started to heal. While Naruto, you seems fine as always. You didn't have anything to report, did you?" Sakura said as she wrote the result on her clipboard. "Nope. I am fine. Thanks to Sasuke. And, sorry that you have to get hurt because of me, Sasuke." Naruto switched from Sakura to Sasuke. Sasuke just "hn"ed and Sakura dismissed them. After they were out of the hospital, they go their separate way to their home, waiting for the call Tsunade promised.

On the way to his house, Sasuke heard people talking around him about how his mission with Naruto went. "Thank goodness that they both got home safely. As expected from Naruto and the last of the Uchiha." One said.

"He's not the last, you know! His brother is still alive. I can say that his abilities matched his brother now. Maybe even better." Another said.

"That's good! Maybe he'll be a great partner for Naruto! After all, someone as strong as Naruto could only be paired with one that is also strong." Barely a whisper.

"Yeah! I agree! It'll be great that way! And seems like Naruto's mood got better after she knows Sasuke!" One almost shouted in glee.

Sasuke watched and heard it all with amusement and curiosity. Rumors speard real quick in Konoha it seems. With all the talk happening all around him about how strong Naruto was and what a perfect partner Sasuke would be, Sasuke felt the need to asked someone who know more about Naruto and the others in his age group. So instead of going back to his house, he searched for the Jounin, either Kakashi or Gai. Kakashi was pretty hard to pinpoint, so he searched for Gai. He spotted Gai near the river bank with his team. He jumped to their location and landed not far behind the team.

Gai noticed Sasuke and almost immediately welcome him to his presence. "Ooh! Sasuke! Nice to see you all well. What are you doing here?" Gai asked. Rock Lee, Gai's favorite student looked at them and shouted excitedly and in a matter of second, Sasuke had already been embraced by Lee. Neji and Tenten sweat droped while Gai babbled something about youth. Sasuke was confused and pulled away from Lee's hug. "Sorry about that, Sasuke." Neji apologized. Tenten laugh nervously, "So, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be resting?" She said. Sasuke looked her way and nodded while answering, "I want to asked about something concerning the war." After Sasuke said that, there was silence.

"Oh, so that's what you wanted to asked. Well, the war itself concerned all of the shinobi from the five village. But, all the details were not as easy to get. It was still a top secret to many. You should asked Tsunade-sama for permission first. But, what's bothering you about the war, Sasuke?" Gai asked. Sasuke's shoulder slumped a bit after hearing that it was top secret. But he answered nonetheless. "It's Naruto. Are informations about her also top secret?" He asked carefully. "About Naruto, huh? Interesting. You've never showed any interest in any girls before. What makes you interested in her Sasuke? We'll tell you depending on you answer to that." Neji said, smirking. He earned a glare from Tenten though. Neji just waved her off.

Sasuke was taken aback by the question. He never really thought why he was interested in knowing more about the cheerful kunoichi. He furrowed his eyebrows to think. "I'm just curious. The reason is,... I don't know. I've never seen her before this mission. And I was quite surprised that she didn't know me, so it kinda intrigued me, I think. And, all the reaction she got from the village, whether it's here or the Sand. Just before we went back, we took a stroll around and she got the same reaction. I was wondering what makes all adore her." He said after a second of thinking. Tenten was staring in awe, Lee was beaming while shouting something they all ignored, Gai was giving Sasuke his thumb up while grinning, and Neji's smirk turned into a smile while he closed his eyes.

"Heh! Alright, that's a good reason." Neji said, "We'll tell you about her, but not all. We cannot go into details as it was connected to the war and that this new problem concern the war and her a lot." Sasuke smiled a little. "Thanks." He said, though still disappointed. Neji, Tenten, Lee, and Gai took turn in explaining things about Naruto. Sasuke listened intently to all the explanation until afternoon.

"You see, Naruto was always making trouble at that time. After all, she was the... Umm.. Idiot of the class in the rookie nine. She was-" before Tenten could finished, someone called Sasuke and the others for the council meeting. "Gai-san, Neji-san, Tenten-san, Lee-san! Oh, and Sasuke-san. You guys are called for the council meeting." The shinobi said. "Thanks! Have you called the others?" Gai asked. The shinobi shouted 'yes' and then went away. "Come on! The meetings won't start without us, anyway." Neji said. They all then proceed to the Hokage tower.

When they arrived at the door, Naruto had just entered with Sakura, Ino, and Hinata. Tenten eagerly brushed past the boys and joined the girls, alerting them all of the small group's arrival. "Girls! Wait up!" Tenten squealed. The girls turned their head around and smiled. "Tenten! We've been waiting for you!" Ino said cheerfully. "You guys are cruel! If I know that you are going together, I'll come with you." Tenten whined. "Ah... We're sorry, Tenten-san! W-we thought that.. You were still with Neji-niisan and the others." Hinata said shyly. Tenten pouted while the others smiled apologetically.

"Hoo... So you guys arrived early huh?" From behind Gai's team, a puff of smoke arised, surprising everyone there. Naruto smiled and laughed, "Sensei, it's been a while!" She shouted. All head turned to the smoke screen. A figure emerged from there. Kakashi was there, in his casual attire, lazy expression, with an 'Icha Icha' book in hand, while giving a slight wave. "Naruto, Sakura, been a while. Seems like there are other team members too here." He said in his casual lazy voice. Seeing his eternal rival, Gai become ecstatic. He started shouting things about having another match, rock-paper-scissor game, spring time of youth, and such. Neji and Tenten sweat droped again, while Lee cheered for them. "Gai, we're here for a meeting, remember?" Kakashi said. "Oh, right!" Gai went silent after that. "Well, now that's settled. Let's go inside, shall we?" Kakashi motioned his hand to the bustling hallway. They all smiled and walked to the meeting room.

Arrived there, they were all seated according to their statuses. The Konoha Eleven, Jounins, Councils, Judges, and the Hokage. The right side of the Hokage were for the councils, judges and jounins. While the left side of the Hokage were for the Konoha Eleven, plus Sasuke. The nearest from the Hokage were Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke. The meeting started after they were all there.

One hour passed.

Two hour.

Three.

"You are not supposed to take this easy, Tsunade!" One of the superior council said, anger filling her voice.

"And what!? You should have known that our.. No! That the shinobi world is still recovering from the war!" Tsunade shouted, slapping her hands on the table, making the table shook.

"Sakura-chan... Are council meetings always like this?" Naruto asked, her elbow on the table and her palm on her cheek.

Sakura laughed nervously, "Actually, no. Only sometimes. Other time, it's just peaceful. What makes today like this is unknown." After that she sighed.

Naruto sighed too, "I'm bored. Why are we called here anyway? None of the young generation had a say in this right now, y'know."

"Alright! So, what do you suggest we do? I don't want this meeting to end because I have to break the table again. So, give us some solution and we'll all think about this!" Tsunade said in a desperate tone. The councils also sighed, either in relieve or in desperation. The older one thought for a while.

"How about we do this like when the war broke? Hide the jinchuuriki and supposedly the bijuu too in a remoted place until it calmed down." She said.

This however brought rage to the young generation. Naruto was also pissed, but she hid it with closing her eyes, while some of her friends lashed out at the council. "I'm sorry, but are you out of you mind? If we put all the bijuu together in one place, when they figure out their location, they will found all of them and we'll be vulnerable." Shikamaru said, obviously annoyed.

The council tried to reason with Shikamaru, thought they know it's impossible. Sakura suddenly slammed her fist into the table, shaking the table vigorously. Everyone turned their attention to her "Have you also forgotten? Even if we tried to hide them, if our enemy are far more stronger and we needed their help, they'll have to come to our rescue too! Just like at the war!"

"And, how do you suggest for us to actually asked the other bijuu to follow our lead and hide? They all have their own free will." Tsunade said. Her fist clenched tightly that her nails drew cresent mark on her palm. "If we make the wrong move, the other bijuu might make us their enemies." She added.

Sasuke seeing all of them bickering tried to said something to calm the atmosphere. But before he stand, he was stopped by Naruto, who stand in his place. "Leave this to me, Sasuke!" Naruto smiled reasuringly. "Alright! This meeting will not end if all of you didn't quit fighting!" Naruto practically shouted. All became silent and eyes focused on the blonde.

"Thank you. Now, I appreciated your idea, Koharu-baasan. But I believe that they would not like a repeat of the war again. Of course, I couldn't give any guaranty that I could stop them if they decided to attack us. They're not things to be controlled and reigned. They are living creatures that have their own rights and free wills. So I am NOT going to do what you just said. And since this is supposed to be everyone's problem..." She looked at Tsunade, "How about we hold a five kage summit, Baa-chan?"

After a few minutes of murmuring, Tsunade answered, defeated, "Alright, then! Kage summit it is!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review. I need a new motivation to write this story. My mind just kept getting new ideas unrelated to this story, and I'm still trying to make this more interesting. So, I need an outsider opinion. Thanks again.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is another chapter. I wanted to post this when my place hit the new year, but I fell asleep. So.. Now, it's better than nothing. Happy New Year.

The day began with a bright shining sun. As the day proceed into noon, the cool morning air turned into a blazing hot air that maybe it could made oils turns into fire immediately. In the middle of this hell of a hot day, a young man drapped in a black coat was walking in the single path toward Konoha. The hot air didn't bothered him, it seemed. He walked gracefully, like a dancer. But, no! He was not a dancer. He was a shinobi. One of the shinobi of Konoha.

As the main gate came into his view, he saw a familiar face standing below the gate and talking to a young woman of his age. Slick raven hair, onyx eyes, and a stoic expression, the face he saw always everyday before. Behind him, he also noticed another familiar face. Half of his face covered with mask, spiky gray hair, his forehead protector hiding his left eye, apparently smiling to the pink haired girl next to him.. They were walking away from the gate, surely on a mission. He was quite surprised when he saw the raven haired man was smiling to the golden haired kunoichi while they crossed path. Smirking behind the hood of his coat, he said, "It's rare to see you smile tenderly. Especially to a kunoichi, Sasuke." Deep, cold, but tender voice rang through the air near them as the group walked by. Said man turned his head immediately to the source of the voice, eyes widen in shock and also a wince from turning his head too fast.

Their eyes were on the single man before them. Two in surprised, and two in confusion. Sasuke spoke first, "Nii-san? Is that you?" He asked hesitantly. The man's eyes were covered by the hood, but it didn't hid the smirk. He pulled the hood away from his face. The resemblance could be seen from the two brother. Jet black hair, onyx eyes, pale skin. The diference, the older's hair was longer, and had a freckles on his cheek. Before the younger one could respond once more, he was beat by the long haired kunoichi.

"Itachi!" She shouted in glee. She jumped and hugged the older Uchiha. "Long time no see!"

The older Uchiha chuckled while giving the girl a hug himself. "Yes, indeed, Naruto! It's been far too long. I've never imagine that you've grown so much." He said. Naruto laughed and gave Itachi a slap on his arm. "So, how's my little brother doing? I hope you're fine."

Sasuke shook his head to turned his focus back. "I'm fine. By the way, how did you know Naruto? I believe that you've never met her!" He asked confused. Itachi and Naruto exchanged glances. "Aaah... We met each other before you guys actually traveled. Just before I became academy students. And, well... Like that." Naruto explained. Sasuke eyed his brother and in a silent question, asked if it was true. "It's true little brother. I thought that you noticed since I was always talking with Naruto when we often visited the playground with Mother." Itachi said.

"Owh.. I see." Sasuke answered, disappointed by the fact that he had never seen Naruto back at the playground. Or, maybe he had but didn't remembered? "So, what kind of mission are you going to go now?" Itachi asked. Kakashi was the one who responded first. "Not a big mission. Just a regular B-rank mission of escorting a group of merchants from bandits. And probably another rough ninja." He explain briefly about their mission. Itachi nodded and smiled, more like smirked though. "Well, then. I should not interupted you. Please go on. Be safe on your journey!" He waved as he continued to walked toward Konoha.

The team of four resumed their mission. It went well, no one got hurt, the merchants were safe, and they even received some parting gift from the merchant as a thanks. "Say, Kakashi-sensei! Could we stop somewhere first before we go back?" Sakura asked cutely once they bid farewell to the merchants. Kakashi looked at the pink haired and silently asked her to continue. "Heheh... There's a hot spring town near here. Could we stay the night there? We've been on this mission for a week already, and since we're already here..." She pleaded. Kakashi sighed, he knew this was coming. He wanted to refused, but he knew that his team had been working hard. And he knew better not to upset Sakura. Especially even since the war ended.

So Kakashi nodded and he blew another sighed when Sakura cheered. Naruto smiled wearyly at her friend. She was kind of exhausted after all those work, though it's not really much. But the constant pushing and pulling carts while you're on your guard could be really tiring if you were doing it for 7 days straight. So silently, she was cheering for Sakura's idea too. "Well, let's get going before it's dark out. We could stay for 2 or 3 days. I'll go and sent a notification to Tsunade-sama first so she knows about the mission before the actual report." Kakashi said. 'Yes!' Could be heard faintly from the two kunoichi. Sakura grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled her down the road to the said town. Naruto complied and called Sasuke and Kakashi to hurry up and joined them.

"Is this really ok, Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked while following the girls behind. Kakashi just shrugged and fished out his 'Icha Icha' book from his pouch. Sasuke rolled his eyes at the teacher's behaviour. 'How could this shinobi survived in this world is probably a mystery.' He thought.

_0o0_

"Aaah! This is the best!" Sakura sighed comfortably as she dipped her body into the private hot spring. All the tension in her body melted away. Naruto joined a minute later and a contented sigh came from her. "Thanks, Sakura-chan! This is trully the best!" Said Naruto as she succumbed to the relaxing water. Sakura give a 'uh-huh' to reply Naruto's thanks. A few minute after a comfortable silent, Sakura stirred and turned toward Naruto.

"Hey, Naruto. What do you think about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked with a hint of seriousness. Naruto turned her head and blinked. "What do you mean, Sakura-chan?" She asked, confused. Sakura smiled, "Well, ever since the mission at the Sand, you had been in a better mood. So, I thought it's probably because of Sasuke-kun." She said. Naruto brought her hands to her chin, looking at the orange sky right then, "Am I?" Sakura chuckled at that. Naruto never really thought of herself whenever there were dangerous missions and such. Always looking out for her friends and comrades. So, of course she didn't realize that her mood had lightened.

"I don't know. It's fun to be around him. He's quite strong and cautious. And I guess he could be called kind. Though, he's not a jerk at first sight, obviously." Sakura giggled, "And, I feel like I'm quite attached to him. However, It's not like when I was with him. And this feelings are different from my sisterly feelings for him. It's like... It's something special, you know. Something else. I don't know. That's how I feel." Hearing that, Sakura smiled widely at her friend. No one would expect the little Naruto would taken an interest in boys! She squealed happily and jumped to hug Naruto. Taken aback, both Naruto and Sakura fell under the water. When the got to the surface, they giggled and laughed together while they got to their original place again and relaxing their bodies once more, chatting altogether.

On the other hand, Kakashi and Sasuke had also come into the man's private hot spring next to the girls. Once they had settled in, they heard splashing and giggles and laughs of the girls next door. Kakashi gave a small laugh himself while imagining the girls behaviour. Sasuke just stare at the wall separating both place, before staring at Kakashi. Kakashi, feeling eyes on him, looked at Sasuke. "Is there something on my face, Sasuke?" Sasuke looked away for, a little embarassed to be caught staring. "No, it's nothing, Sensei."

Sasuke became the new member of Kakashi's team right after the meeting of Konoha's councils. He had no trouble addressing Naruto and Sakura, but he couldn't decide what to call Kakashi. Kakashi had offered him to call him 'Sensei' like the other team their age. And he accepted.

Kakashi chuckled, "I heard you've been asking around about the war, Sasuke. And about Naruto too." Hearing that, Sasuke's body went rigid. His eyes widened a bit before he answered, "Yes. I'm.. Curious about what had happened at the war and Naruto's connection with it." Kakashi nodded. "Well, it's not surprising that you are. I heard from Tsunade-sama you even asked her to give you permission to know about it all." Sasuke nodded. "Did she gave it to you?" Sasuke shook his head, "No, she said that the person I need to asked was not her. It's 'the hero of the shinobi' or something. She said that it's all their wishes to not have the war informations leaked for convenience purpose, like the one at the Sand."

"Well, it's true. The both of them didn't want to go through it all again. Especially since the war was at first broke because Madara and Obito wanted to capture them and the Shinobi Alliance wanted to protect them. And now, their wishes proved to be useful." Kakashi said while dipping himself further. "Wait, both? There were two?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi nodded, and looked at the sky. "Well, one of them stood out more, since she was the one who stopped both Madara and Obito. But, yes. There were two of them." Kakashi added.

"And the one who stopped the supposed to be strongest Uchiha was a girl?" Sasuke asked again, disbelieve clearly in his tone. Kakashi nodded, "Yup. Even I wondered how that who used to be the idiot become someone as strong, even stronger than Uchiha Madara. But, that's all I gonna tell you. Any further and I'm going to break my promises to them. Anyway, I wanted to know why you're interested in Naruto. She's not the prettiest girl alive and one of the loudest in Konoha. Not too mention a goof and kind of rash." He said. Sasuke flinched hearing that. "Uh.. Even you said that? And I thought that you're his teacher." Kakashi just laughed a little. "She's just like that. No need to hide it. She wouldn't even mind hearing that, right, Naruto?" He raised his voice a little at the last part. From the hot sring next door, both men could heard Naruto's answered.

"Huh? What are you guys talking about anyway? What's right?" She asked. Both Kakashi and Sasuke chuckled before Sasuke answered, "It's nothing!" They could heard some splash from thhe other side and a little while latter another giggles sounded. "Sakura-chan! Stopped knocking me under the water!" Naruto shouted while laughing. "But, it's fun! It's been too long since we've played in the water. Especially since after that I get to dry your long hair!" Sakura also shouted while laughing. Kakashi laughed wholeheartedly hearing that, "Girls, just be careful not to get hurt or fainted because you're too long staying in the water." He advised them. A shouted 'okay' was heard.

Kakashi got out after that, leaving Sasuke alone. But not before saying he's going to asked the inn to prepare some dinner and said he'll listened to Sasuke's answers later. Sasuke laid there in silence, listening to the girls laughed. After a while the laughs died down, and the girls went out of the hot spring. Sasuke followed after. When he's back to their room, food was already on the table. Kakashi was sitting on the adge of the table, reading his novel. Naruto was sitting near the window her twin ponytail was now untied. Sakura was drying Naruto's hair behind her. "Sasuke! So, how's the hot spring?" Naruto asked cheerily. Sasuke smiled a bit, "Not bad." He walked to the table where he sat on one of the cussions. Naruto pouted and turned her head away, "Is that all?" Sakura giggled behind her. Sasuke sweat dropped.

"Naruto, don't move your head! I can't dry it!" Sakura said. Naruto smiled apologetically. "Alright, now that we're all here. Why don't we dig in?" Kakashi said. All agreed. After dinner, they talked a bit more. Sasuke kept looking back and forth to Naruto. He sighed. "Sasuke? What's wrong?" Naruto asked, feeling kind of uncomfortable. "No, it's nothing." Sasuke immediately asked. Naruto looked confused, but shrugged anyway.

"Hey, Naruto. We'll be here until two days later right? Will you train with me? I haven't spar in quite sometime." Sakura asked. Naruto laid down and nodded, "Good idea! We could do it on the clearing near here. There's a wide area behind the inn. I'll go and asked the caretaker if we can use it." Sakura smiled. Kakashi hummed in agreement. "Make use of the time, girls! Especially you, Naruto. I bet you'll be very, very busy after this." He then stood up and started walked toward his room, "Sasuke, I expect to see you inside soon?" He asked. Sasuke just nodded.

From her seat, Naruto yawned, her hair had dried and she pulled it into another twin tails. Sakura was beside her, dozing off. Naruto noticed this and smiled sleepily, stood up, and walked to her bedroom first. A little while later, she came out, seeing Sakura already asleep. Sasuke was studying a scroll, but he knew what happened around him. When Naruto came back to the room, he took a glance at her and saw Naruto carrying Sakura bridal style as to not wake her. How come a girl have that kind of strengh, Sasuke couldn't fathom how. "Sasuke, we'll be going on ahead. Good night!" Naruto said to Sasuke, sounding sleepy. Sasuke nodded and give a short 'hn' then Naruto and Sakura disappeared to the bedroom, leaving him alone in the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you for reading and waiting. Please review. And again, Happy New Year!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another chapter. Thank you for waiting.

Some while after Naruto retreated into her room with sleeping Sakura in her hands, Sasuke also finished his reading and went to his room, shared with Kakashi. Kakashi was still reading his book, only now on the top of his futon. Kakashi peered from his book and lay it down. Sasuke set to laid his futon when Kakashi spoke, "So...? I wonder what's your answer?" Sasuke didn't expect to be asked right away, so his eyes widen a bit before he grasped his composure back. He closed his eyes when he finished setting up his futon, then sit on it. "I don't know. She's not like any other kunoichi. A bit different, in many things. No. She's unlike any other people. And I guess that intrigued me." He glanced at the ceiling, pondering about things.

Kakashi once again brought his book to his face again. Though he didn't read anything on the page, smiling behind his mask. "I see. Sasuke, I wanted you to come with us and watch the girls spar tomorrow. You'll see something interesting." Kakashi then closed his book and snuggled inside the sheets, "Well then, good night Sasuke." He said lazily. Sasuke decided that the jounin was a strange one, in many ways possible.

_0o0_

"NOO!" Sakura screamed, waking up from her sleep and the haunting dream she had. Naruto didn't need to know what happened, she immediately sat up and hugged the now crying girl. "Sakura-chan, I'm here. Don't worry." She tried to soothe the girl. The girl sobbed in her clutches. "Na-Naruto... I.. I.." She chocked, Naruto smiled sadly, telling her that she know. Naruto patted her back to help her calm down. The door to the room slide open, revealing a worried Sasuke. "What happened?" He said. Naruto laughed a little.

"No. It's nothing. Sakura-chan just got a nightmare. Once she's calmed down, we'll sleep again." Naruto said, still comforting the crying Sakura. Sasuke frowned. "Want to talk about it, Sakura? Maybe it would helped." He said. In Naruto's arms, Sakura shook her head, her sobs died down. "Sasuke, we'll be fine. We'll go to sleep after this. You just go to bed first." Naruto said. Sasuke just stood still for a while before he nodded. Then the door closed again.

Naruto then laid Sakura down, and then lied down with her. "Sakura-chan. I know this is frustating. This is painful for me too. After all, he's special to us. And more to you. But we have to stay strong. For him, and for ourself. Sakura-chan, let's go back to sleep. I'll hold you close, okay?" Naruto soothed her. Sakura nodded and soon she was back to sleep. Naruto smiled sadly while looking at her best friend. A moment later, she was also pulled into slumber.

The next morning, the air around both girls had improved than last night. Though, Naruto was better than Sakura, since she didn't have any nightmare. "You girls alright? Sakura really woke me up last night." Sakura blushed after hearing Kakashi complained and she spoke in a small voice after. "Sorry, Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "Mmm.. It's fine. I know what you guys been through. And I know it's hard. So, how abaout we have breakfast and begin with the training?" The girls agreed and joined the two at the table.

The ground cracked as a fist connected to it, making it break down quite remarkably. Sasuke watched in awe as both girls sparred with each other. 'Both of them are unexpectedly strong.' He could heard himself talking in the back of his mind. Naruto avoided getting hit by Sakura, ducking underneath her coming fist and crouched down to swipe at her feet. Sakura leaped right after retrieving her hands. Then both girls jumped away from each other, gathering their breath. "You've never really seen them fight right? Even though you have at least seen Naruto once." Kakashi said, finding it quite amusing. Sasuke nodded, not sure whether Kakashi actually seen it or not.

Not once had Sasuke seen women... Kunoichi to be more exact, fight as ferociously as this. Most of them just used their specialized jutsu, mid-range or long-range. Or maybe with weapons. But this... With their bare fist, and the ground was pretty mush destroyed. Sasuke was impressed, never was his eyes leaving the amazing sight, observing them both. Naruto, even though capable of using ninjutsu, chose not to used them, and instead just used taijutsu technique. Her movements were fast and sharp, like a cat, or fox. Meanwhile, Sakura's attacks consisted of mostly fists. Her attacks were deathly. One hit, and you'll passed out for a whole day... maybe week.

"Alright! Naruto! Sakura! That's enough. Go take a break. I wonder now, how are we going to fix the terrain." Kakashi mused. Both girls laughed sheepishly. "Aaah!! That's a great exercise." Naruto stretched her limbs, "Kakashi-sensei, can I go to the town? I have something I have to buy." Kakashi nodded. "Careful, Naruto! You don't know what will happen, so don't let your guard down. Especially since it's you." Kakashi warned her, letting all humor faded from him. They all noticed, Naruto and Sakura immediately catched the meaning behind it. And Naruto nodded in understanding. "Well, then. I'm off"

Kakashi sighed, "I don't think it's really a great idea for her to go alone. Sasuke, will you follow her around for a while? Sakura and I will just clean this mess." Sasuke nodded and went to follow Naruto.

Not letting your guard down would meant that you knew you were watched. Naruto knew Sasuke followed her a min after her departure. But somehow, Naruto also felt someone else eyes on her once she get to the town. And it seemed that Sasuke noticed, so Sasuke catched up with her. "Hey." Sasuke called. Naruto turned around and smiled warmly, "Thanks, Sasuke." She thanked him. Sasuke was taken aback by that. 'She knew, huh.' He thought. "So, where are you going?" Sasuke asked, walking beside her. Naruto hummed, "I wanted to look for a ramen shop. And also a few scroll. I ran out yesterday." She skipped in her walk. "Ramen shop? You're totally fixate on ramen, aren't you." Sasuke sweat dropped. Naruto chuckled, "That's just me. Let's go!" She latched her hand to Sasuke's upper arm and dragged Sasuke.

Once Naruto got what she's looking for, they headed back to their inn. "Naruto, can I asked you something?" Sasuke finally gathered some courage to asked. Naruto tilted her head a bit, then nodded. Sasuke thought for a while, searching for the right question, then, "What're you doing when you're out of the village?" He settled for something simple. "Huh? Oh.. Missions of course. Usually, I was sent to the other village, or maybe solo missions. My capability was perfect for stealth missions or for gathering informations. Also tracking and sensing. So, it's convenient." She explained, though she didn't expect to be asked something like that.

Naruto had heard from Tsunade that Sasuke was trying to find informations of the war, and thus the Hokage had asked Naruto whether or not to answer to the raven. Naruto just said that she would tell Sasuke herself when the time comes. Maybe after the trouble of the new threat had subsided. So when Sasuke said he had something to asked from Naruto, she expected to be asked something like, What happened at the war? Who was their target? Or something like that. And, trully, she didn't expexted to be asked of her missions outside of the village.

"Aren't missions like that dangerous? Especially solo missions?" Sasuke asked. "Really? .... Well, sometimes they are dangerous. But not really. None of them are life threatening, even when Baa-chan said that it was an A-rank mission." Sasuke gaped on the inside hearing that. Even he would get at least a bruise or a broken arm on an A-rank mission, solo. 'I wonder if she has ever got hurt.' He thought. As If hearing his thought, "It's not like I never got hurt. There's one time when I almost died with a few ribs and a leg broken, and a deep wound on my chest. Though, it's not so bad if you compare it with the war." A shiver ran down Sasuke's body. Imagining the cheerful blonde on the verge of death was something Sasuke couldn't do. Well, something he didn't wanted to imagine, actually. "That's.... Not a good memory... I believe.." He said hesitantly. Naruto laughed a little at that.

"No, but it's not so bad. After all, I healed completely after a week of rest." She said. Sasuke wanted to asked what she trully meant by that when they arrived at their inn. "Oh, we're here. Let's continue this inside." Naruto said as she opened the door to the inn. Sasuke sighed mentally, 'It's the second time I heard that statement, but I haven't got the answer. I wonder if she's doing it consciously.' He thought as he too went inside after Naruto.

Opening the door to their room, they were greeted by Kakashi. "Naruto, Sasuke. Perfect timing! We received a letter from Tsunade-sama. It seems that the Mizukage was attacked on her way to Konoha. And since we're the nearest person to her current location, Tsunade-sama wanted us to escort her back to Konoha. Also, it seems that one of the Mizukage's attendant was hurt." Kakashi gave Naruto the letter. Naruto immediately bombarded Kakashi with questions, "Where are they? Is the Mizukage alright? Who attacked them? What happened to the attackers? Did they defeat them?" And such. When Naruto finished, she was out of breath and a slight panic was seen in her eyes. Kakashi chuckled, "Don't worry. They're fine. They're taking refuge at the nearest forest, since they're quite far from town. I'm thinking of bringing them here and let the wounded rest first before going back to Konoha. And seems like the Mizukage scared the living out of them."

Naruto released a relieved sigh, then she leaned on the door, closing her eyes. This time, Sasuke was the one to asked, "So, what'll we do, Sensei? Do we know where they are right now?" Kakashi shook his head, "Apparently, the Mizukage didn't tell anything about which forest she is in around this area. The search area was quite wide, so I wanted to form a strategy first before going. We also needed to take them here to let the wounded a little rest. We need to prepare a room for him too." Sakura then come into the room. "Kakashi-sensei. I think we could use Naruto and my room for the wounded. It's also easier for me to attend to it. Though it need some cleaning up to do." After hearing that, a loud poof was heard followed by another. The three turned to face the source.

Naruto had her back to the three in the room, one hand on the door, ready to push it open while beside her two shadow clones were facing the occupants of the room. The the two clones set out toward the room the were staying in and closed the door. The other occupants lingered their gazes to the door of the bedroom for a while, a soft thump and a few swipe could be heard from the inside. "What are you doing, Naruto?" Kakashi then asked out of curiosity. The question was met by silence. No one talked for a while, then the bedroom door opened. Revealing the two clones. "Done~~!" Both clones exclaimed then poofed out of existent.

"Kakashi-sensei, let's go get Mizukage-baachan! I'll guide you there." Naruto said, finally sliding the door open without looking back.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter! Enjoy!

"Naruto, how did you know where the Mizukage is?" Sasuke asked while jumping from tree to tree. "Sasuke-kun, you'll get your answer soon. When Naruto is like this, you better not disturb her. Once she put her mind on something, nothing can stop her." Sakura said, "Even that time when we were on a mission to safe the Kazekage from Akatsuki. Or that time when she started learning her rasenshuriken technique." Sasuke stole a glance toward Naruto and noted that she was right. Naruto really didn't heard anything they had said. They jumped for another five minutes before Naruto suddenly stopped on a tree branch. The other followed suit.

"What's wrong Naruto?" Kakashi asked calmly, dispite the constant running and jumping. Naruto didn't answer, she just pointed down the tree. Tree set of eyes followed the direction of her finger and saw what they were looking for. ... Who to be exact. Kakashi then give some signals to his group. Then the three jumped down, except Naruto, who jumped a little later and with a few feet as a distance. "Mizukage-sama!" Kakashi called out to her. The Mizukage turned and when when she saw the group, she smiled sweetly. "Oh, you've arrived. Thank you for aiding me quickly." She said. Kakashi just nodded.

"Mizukage-sama... Where are your companion?" Sakura asked, looking around. "O-oh ... They are resting. I'm trying to see if there are ... anyone following us." She stuttered. Sakura could tell something was wrong but just shrugged it off. "If you don't mind, please show me where they are. I wanted to see how bad the injuries." The Mizukage nodded and turned on her heels. All of them followed for a while before noticing that Naruto was left behind a few steps. "Naruto? Are you ok? What's wrong?" Sasuke asked, stepping closer to Naruto. Naruto shook her head, "I'm fine. But, will you guys believe me in this?" She asked. All three gave a confused look at each other before they nodded. Naruto then smiled before the Mizukage called out to them.

"What's wrong? They are this way." The Mizukage said. "Say, Mizukage-baachan!" Naruto called. The Mizukage just tilted her head and gave a small 'hmm?' with a smile before a rasengan collided with her.

...........

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, NARUTO!!!!!????" Sakura's yell was deafening. Naruto chuckled, "I don't think that the Mizukage was happy to be called Baa-chan, right? At least not old hag, but maybe aunty? Say, do you think that by transforming into the Mizukage, you'll get the upper hand?" She smiled victoriously to the unconscious.

Sakura gaped and Sasuke smirked in awe. "How did you know?" Sasuke asked. "Their chakra are different. After all, there's no way that her attendant will let her walked around all by herself if they knew they might be attacked again." Naruto explained, "Right, Kakashi-sensei?" Kakashi nodded from behind the impostor, having him tied right after colliding with Naruto's rasengan. "Sensei, you should have said something to us then!" Sakura whined. Kakashi just shrugged, "Not that I didn't want to. Though, you should have realized that when you looked at Naruto." Naruto chuckled sheepishly. Sakura sighed, then again, following Naruto to where the Mizukage was, saying, "Well... Maybe the Mizukage wanted some gifts anyway. And we got the perfect gift."

On their way to the Mizukage, Sasuke couldn't help but stare at Naruto. He believe that it's the least in her ability, and Sasuke wanted to know more about her. More than before. Strength seemed to catch his attention after all. They arrived shortly after that. The Mizukage kneeling beside a wounded young boy, older than them a bit. "Oh! Naruto, Kakashi! So you're the one that Hokage-sama sent?" She greeted them happily. Kakashi replied politely and Sakura set to work. "Coujurou was the one who got hurt?" Naruto asked after a minute of comfortable silence.

Coujurou chuckled nervously, "Sorry, Naruto-san. I guess I am being a burden again." Naruto shook her head and smiled, "Nah..! Don't sweat! Anyway, we've got a room at an inn about 30 minutes if we go through the trees, but about an hour if we walked on land. And I'm guessing that maybe we should just walk, Sakura-chan?" She said. Sakura nodded with an added "hm-mm". The Mizukage then noticed Sasuke standing behind Naruto, catching him stared at Naruto. She smiled tenderly before talking, "It seems that you have a new member to your team. Mind if you introduce him to us Kakashi?" Kakashi nodded lazily.

"This is Uchiha Sasuke, one of the last survivor of the Uchiha clan." Kakashi said while Sasuke nodded in greetings. The Mizukage smiled once again, "Nice to meet you, Sasuke! I'm Terumi Mei, the Mizukage. And this is my right-hand man, Coujurou." She introduced herself and her attendant, Coujurou, who tried to sit up to participate in the greeting. "Mizukage-sama, where is your other attendant?" Sakura asked after attending to Coujurou's injuries. When Coujurou tried to stand, Naruto put out her hand and he took it gladly. "Ao is trying to find our attacker. But it seems that it was to no avail." The Mizukage sighed, "I'll go and call him." Then she shouted the ninja name and he appeared soon after.

After all of them had assembled, they began walking to the inn. Sakura, Sasuke and Ao was helping Coujurou to walk and Kakashi stayed behind them to watched out while Naruto was walking alongside the Mizukage. Sasuke watched the exchange of words between them, fascinated. "Has Naruto always been... close to the Mizukage?" Sasuke asked after a while. The three of them looked at Sasuke before Ao asked to Sakura, "He didn't know anything about the war?" Sakura hesitantly answered, "A little bit. She didn't want to tell him just yet, because of the arising problem." Sasuke looked at them, obviously confused. What was the knowledge of the war connections with the relationship between the two woman?

"Naruto-san is close to the other Kage as well. They shared the same view of peace for the shinobi world. No... I think that Naruto-san shared her view of a peaceful shinobi world to the other Kage. And the Kages complied. Even though she was not the one who suggested the Shinobi Alliance, she was one of the factor, as the Kazekage was pulled from his lonely world by her understanding." Coujurou finally said, thinking over things that had happened in the past. Sasuke seek confirmation to Sakura, and Sakura nodded. "We'll tell you later about that... Actually, we'll tell you about our first chuunin exam right after we became genin. That'll make-" before she could finished, she bumped into Naruto.

"What the-! Naruto, what are you doing? Why did you stop?" Sakura yelled annoyed and rubbed her head. Naruto stayed silent for a while, then, "Umm... I forgot... where we are... I kinda got.. distracted while talking." She said sheepishly. There was silence for a while before, "WHAT THE!! NARUTO!! HOW COULD YOU FORGET!? YOU SAID YOU KNEW!" Sakura fumed. Kakashi face palmed and sighed. The Mizukage just stood smiling, no one know what she was thinking at the moment. Coujurou was laughing a bit anxious, and Ao was trying not to say anything that would upset the young kunoichi. Naruto flinched, still smiling apologetically to them all, offering a "Sorry" in a soft voice.

Sasuke was beyond surprised. Though, he didn't show any said expression openly. The unfolding scene was that Sakura scolding Naruto proved to be amusing to the young Uchiha. 'Thought that she was someone who wouldn't make mistake. Turns out, she's just a goof, like they said.' He thought, smirking. "Anyway, I'll take the lead this time. Naruto and Sasuke, guard the back." Kakashi said. Moving into position, they set out to their inn. An hour later, they arrived without much difficulties. Sakura quickly attended to Coujurou's injuries again while the other waited. Kakashi stood leaning on the wall next to the door with Ao next to him, the Mizukage sat in front of the table with tea served, accompanied by Naruto and Sasuke. A silence was stretch among them.

"So, when will we continue to Konoha?" The Mizukage asked after a few minutes. "Tommorow, if we could. And if it's not too much strain on Coujurou." Kakashi replied. After observing for a while, Naruto then stood up and went to where Coujurou was treated. "I'll go and help Sakura-chan. We cannot delayed the Kage summit again." She said smiling. Kakashi nodded. "It seems like she was anxious. Have you figure out the reason why they tried to attack the Kazekage?" The Mizukage spoke after Naruto closed the door. Kakashi then glanced at Sasuke, asking him to answer. Sasuke, realizing the gesture, "From what they said, it seems like they are after the bijuu."

The Mist shinobi's eyes widened, "The bijuu? Again?" The Mizukage said, "The letter from Hokage-sama didn't specify the reason they attacked or their aim. So I guess this means that the person alive with the connection to the bijuu are those three. And they are targeted again." Kakashi nodded, "Well, for now, I think that the Kazekage was interogating the woman that they caught. We'll have to wait for further information to make our next step." He explained. "Ao, we should rest. We still have a long way to go. And a long road to finish this up." The Mizukage said to Ao. Kakashi quickly offered the Mizukage to use the room he and Sasuke used the night before. Shortly after, Naruto and Sakura joined them in the occupied room and offered Ao to used the room they used with Coujurou. The Mist shinobi agreed and they all settled down for the day.

The next day, they all continued their journey back to Konoha. "Thank you for the escort. And also for the medication. Now, we'll have to meet the Hokage." The Mizukage said after reaching Konoha's main gate. "Oh, don't worry about that, Mizukage-sama. We'll also be going to the Hokage's tower. So, why not go together?" Kakashi offered the Mist shinobi, which they welcomed delightedly. Though what awaited them was something they not quite expected.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for waiting! Here's a new chapter.

"So, Sasuke, Itachi. Actually, I have, umm.. Bad news." Tsunade said while eyeing the Uchiha brothers and the scroll in her hands. The two brothers looked at each other before returning their attention to the Hokage. "Thing is... I received words that the Uchiha compound was..." Before she said the next word, the door was opened revealing Sakura with Shikamaru in tow. "Tsunade-sama! All the things that we could safe from the main house have been moved to one of the room below." Sakura said, reporting the deal. Shikamaru who noticed the Uchiha brothers apologize for intruding on the talk. Tsunade sighed, "Thank you Sakura, Shikamaru. Now, we just have to find the place for them." She said to the two shinobi.

Itachi, having seen an opportunity to speak, asked what the bad news for him and Sasuke was. Three set of eyes glanced at the brothers, then at each other before Tsunade spoke again. "As I have said, the Uchiha compound was..." But, once again she was interupted. "Tsunade-sama, we receive words that there are no vacant rooms or apartment that's currently available." Kiba said with Shino in tow behind him. For the second time in before five minutes, Tsunade sighed again, but with a hint of annoyance. "Alright! Thank you for reporting. But, I'm quite busy here, so just asked Naruto... No, wait! Not Naruto... Kakashi! Asked Kakashi to handle it." Tsunade barked the command to Kiba and Shino, and the both excused themselves.

"Let's continue. You see, the Uchiha coumpound was-" she was interupted again by a shout from downstair saying, "Tsunade-sama! Kakashi-sensei isn't here yet!" This time, it was Lee's voice. That, however, made the last string of patience in Tsunade snapped. "THEN JUST ASKED NARUTO TO DEAL WITH IT!!!" She screamed, fuming, causing the occupant of the room to flinch. She took a deep breath and continued, "Sorry. Now, let's just do this from the begining." She then sat back down on her chair, after having stood up earlier. "The truth is, one of our kunoichi was secretly training on your ground, saying that no one used it that often anyway. But, if she was not there at the momment, then maybe, you will lose all of your belongings. She was the one who discovered that something was wrong."

Itachi and Sasuke looked at each other. Then Sasuke asked confused, "We wouldn't mind someone using our training ground, but... What is wrong with our place?" Sakura and Shikamaru who's still inside the room glanced at each other before Shikamaru replied, "Nothing you thought about. But..." He trailed off, taking a peek at Tsunade, expecting her to continue for him. Taking a notice of this, Tsunade continued, "What we meant is... Your place was... Blown..." She said, "Umm.. Assassinated... Something like that... And the whole Uchiha compound was... Burnt to the ground.." She said carefully, not wanting to really made the two in front of her fainted.

There was silence while the two brothers absorbed the information. "Wait! The Uchiha compound was burnt? How?" Itachi was the first to recover. Sakura was the one who answered this time. "Actually..."

**_Flash Back 3 days ago_ **

"Mizukage! Glad you could make it! How's the journey after?" Tsunde greeted the Mizukage once they entered the Hokage's building. The Mizukage smiled telling that no harm come her way again and they followed the Hokage to her office. "Well, good job team Kakashi! You may rest, but I still need Sasuke's assistant. Sasuke, I need you to investigate something. I also already sent Itachi there. Here's the details of the mission. I'm sorry to sent you right away after just get back from your mission. But, this is pretty important" Tsunade said, handing the mission scroll to Sasuke. Sasuke nodded, "It's fine, Tsunade-sama. Then I'll be going." He was then gone in a second.

The two other member of Kakashi's team and of course, Kakashi went home to rest. The next day, Naruto didn't feel like sleeping or laying down and staying put in her apartment. So she decided to train on the Uchiha's training ground. 'I hope they won't mind.' She thought, walking cassualy to the Uchiha compound. She trained there for hours, sharpening her strength, blows, senses, and jutsus. Once she deem it enough, that was about two hour before the sun set, she started walking back. When she passed by the Uchiha Compound main street, she saw a cat walking leisurely in front of one of the many empty houses. Suddenly, there was a sound like a click that catched her attention. She then stared to inched closer at the place the cat had just been when suddenly, an explossion was heard from the house on the far side of compound.

Startled, she shouted, "WHAT THE-!?" She stared at the place for a moment. Then again, another explossion was heard, this time from the very back. Panicked, she started to run around the compound, another explossion was heard. "What the hell happened? Why did the houses just went exploding on their own?" She then remembered that both Itachi and Sasuke was living and staying in the main house. By instinct, she went to the direction of the main house. By that time, about 5 houses was already exploded and on fire. "Judging by the way it explodes, the main house will be the last. And the interval between each explossion was about 10 second. I have some time!"

Once Naruto reached the main house, she hastily threw the door open. 'Kurama! Lend me your chakra! I needed to take all the things important here before this place explode!' She shouted in her own conciousness. The demon fox immediately took a stance. In second, Naruto's body was engulfed in the fox and her golden chakra. Extended hands created from the golden chakra took as many thing as they could from each room. Clothes, pictures, books, scrolls, swords, kunai, everything she thought important for the two Uchihas. On the outside of the house, many people had gathered to help. Noticing the chakra of many shinobi and villagers, Naruto stretch her chakra hands to put the things she had saved on their hands and she went deeper into the house.

**_Current time_ **

"So, our house was burnt to the gound?" Sasuke asked again, speechless for once about what to say. Tsunade nodded, "Yes. But we were able to save some of your belonging from the main house. And we've tried to find a new place for you to live, but... It seems that there are none at the moment." Itachi, having realized that all the villagers care about them decided that it was alright even if the villagers couldn't find a new house right away. "Tsunade-sama, I would like to see our things. I wanted to know how much or what kind of things that we have right now. Then we'll go from there. Is that alright with you Sasuke?" He said with a smile.

Sasuke looked at his brother, confused, then realized. He gave a nod. Tsunade gave the two brothers a tired smile and stood up. "Your things are in one of the room bellow. I'll take you there." She then lead the Uchihas downstair. Sakura and Shikamaru followed closely behind.

Upon nearing the room, they all heard a loud noise coming from inside. "Naruto! Calm down! Tsunade-sama asked you to take care of this. But not to wear yourself out! Or hurt yourself more!" The voice was muffled, but loud enough for the people outside to hear. Sakura opened the door to the room. Inside, Naruto was seen forced to sit on a chair while Kiba and Shino tried to put her into place, Ino was scolding her, Lee was trying to calm Ino down and Hinata was standing with a tray carrying filled tea cups. Hearing the door opened, Naruto calmed down. "What's wrong, Ino?" Sakura asked. Ino explained how Naruto reacted when she was told that no places was available for the two last Uchiha to settled in. Hearing this, Itachi smiled to Naruto saying thank you for her effort.

Sasuke also give her a small smile, though it went unnoticed by her. That was when Sasuke took Naruto's appearance fully. Both her hands and feet were covered in bandages. When he looked more closely, her clothes were burnt a bit ang her hair also looked a little singed, she had bags under her eyes. "Naruto... What happened to you? Are you alright?"He asked curiously. All eyes were on Sasuke, then back on Naruto. Itachi also noticed Naruto's appearance then. Naruto just smiled sheepishly, "It's nothing! I was just..." She trailed off. "Ever since the Uchiha compound was burnt, Naruto haven't rest that much. She keep running back and forth from here to there." Tsunade explained.

"What's with the bandages? And why did your clothes and hair looked... singed...?" Sasuke asked again, now a bit worried that Naruto had suffered injuries. "Naruto was the one who trained at your training ground. She was also the one who get all these things out of your house. But, before she get out, the explossion happened in the main house and the house was quickly on fire. It's a good thing that she only got a few burnt injuries. I heard that there was 6 explossion on the main house and that she was near one when it happened. Right?" Tsunade smirked, nudging Naruto on the side. Naruto cross her hands and pouted. "Not my fault! I was trying to get as many thing as I could. And the interval between explossion changed suddenly, from 10 second, to 5 second! There must have been triggers somewhere else aside from the house that cat passed by!"

Hearing this, both brothers were more worried than before. "I'm alright! It doesn't hurt anymore! So don't worry about me. And it will heal soon." Naruto said quickly when she saw their faces. "Now, I'm thinking more about where you guys are going to stay for the moment." She said, looking down, deep in thought. Itachi smiled tenderly and patted her hair. "Don't worry about us, Naruto. We'll be fine even though we have to sleep in the open for now. We'll figure it out somehow." He said reasuringly while Sasuke was inspecting the things Naruto was able to snatch from the fire. Most of the things were fine, only a bit was a little singed, probably froz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for those who support my story. I'm inexperience, so your support really help me in making myself better. Once again, thank you!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is another chapter. Thank you for those who had leave kudos for my story. I really appreciate it. Then, enjoy!

Naruto's eyes were wide, and her mouth was hanging open. In front of her, her friends, the five Kage, and some of the villagers were standing. Behind them was a two stories house, with a beautiful yard surrounded by fences. 

The house was a large Japanese and modern model house combined with the front wall painted white and orange for the roof. The door and window seals were from the finest golden brown colored woods. On the front door was carved a swirling symbol of the Uzumaki clan, and also the symbol of the shinobi. From the clear windows, fiery red curtains could be seen decorating the inside. On the yard, there was a small pond with rocks aligned around, on the right side of the yard. The fences was made from brown colored wood, with a decorated entry gate.

"Wh-what is...?" She stuttered, bewildered. Sasuke and Itachi behind her looking rather surprised too. "Uzumaki Naruto." Tsunade said, making Naruto flinched, "As a thank you for your service and for saving the Hidden Village of Konoha many times, we wanted to appreciate your work by giving you a surprise. This, " she pointed the house behind her, "is a gift, from all of the villagers. A place you call home, in your favourite place." The house was located above the Hokages monument, the place Naruto always came to.

The Konoha Eleven and the villagers there snickered seeing Naruto's dumbfounded expression. Not anyone could get Naruto to make that expression. "What the hell! What about my apartment then? My things?" She asked, didn't know what to say. Kiba, Lee, and Chouji gave her thumbs up, silently telling her that it's been taken care of. "Then, Sasuke and Itachi could at least..." Before she could continue, the landlord of her apartment came forward. "Sorry, Naruto. Once the villagers heard the plan of making you a house, and that Tsunade-sama said that once the house is finished, you'll be moved in right away, there has been someone who asked to get the room. So, I already gave it to him or her." He said.

"Well, and that's where this house will be useful." Said Shino, "Why? Because the house could contain more than 10 people. So we thought that it would be better for Sasuke and Itachi to stay with you. In this house." Naruto went silent for a moment. Then, "EEEEHHHHH!!!???" She shouted on top of her lungs, "You're saying that they would live with me?" Tsunade nodded with a serious expression. Itachi and Sasuke who was listening and stayed silent then spoke up. "It's fine if you don't want to Naruto. We don't want to intrude on your personal life, after all." Itachi said. "But we appreciated the effort. We'll just-" Sasuke started, but was interupted by a raised hand from Naruto.

"Who said I didn't agree? I was just surprised." She confidently raised her head and meet their eyes, smiling. "You're welcome to stay for as long as you like!" She grinned, "After all... The house will... feel lonely if I just live alone. And the house is quite big too. Buuuut...." She turned to the house again, "Tsunade-baachan...." She grinned from ear to ear, like a chesire cat, "Before they gave their answer, I want a tour around the house!" She finised with a hand pointed to Tsunade.

_0o0_

"Alright. This is the main hall way, there are two doors you could see right away. The left was to the kitchen, and the right to the living room." Tsunade said boredly. Naruto, Sasuke and Itachi was folowing behind her and looking around the place.

The house was not only of the finest quality, but it was also full furnished. The house was mostly painted white, with a hint of brown from some the woods used. The floor was made from the finest wood in Konoha. Rugs, and a small shelf for shoes with a vase of flowers on top was placed. On each side of the wall, a beautiful painting was placed. The right was a painting of the Fire Country's most beautiful scenery. The left was a painting of the Hidden Village Of Konoha.

Then moved to the living room, a sofa was placed on top of a colorful carpet with two matching armchairs facing to one another, and a coffee table in front of the sofa, separating the armchairs. On top of each seats, there were oranges or red pillows. In front of the sofa was a television with it's table, and behind it was a window, looking to the front door, to the gate, with the fiery red curtains tied perfectly to the side, to let some sun in for the day. 

Along the wall right next to the door and behind the sofa was shelfs and racks with glass doors, storing books, scrolls, and many things, with framed pictures, vases of flowers, and decorations. Many dacorations were like mini statues. The walls were also decorated with a few painting.

On the back of the sofa, was a painting symbolizing the shinobi world, a painting five element, the top right of the wind, the top left of the water, the under right of the lightning, the under left of the earth, and the center of the fire. Another painting was on the wall next to the door. It was a painting of the all the Hokage's figure head on a sunny day. Across the door, was a sliding glass door leading to the side yard where the pond was.

The kitchen was a complete set. A shelf containing all the cooking gear was hung on top of the counter. Both was lining from one end to another end of the kitchen. The kitchen was also completed with a sink and a refrigerator. Stove, knive, pots, kettle, glasses, plates, spoons, forks, chopsticks, and other cooking utensils was all in places. There was a dining table with four chair with a vase of flowers on top of the . On the right wall of the door, there was a painting of...a bowl of ramen? There was also a window facing the front yard, and a smaller one facing the left side of the yard.

"There's the stairs. There's a little space under it, so we made a little storage room. Next to it was one of the guest room. The guest rooms were Japanese style rooms, so it could fit quite a number of people. The other guess room was in front of it. Oh, and that door was the first floor bathroom." Tsunade said moving deeper into the house.

Next to the kitchen, was the bathroom for guests. It was simple, a bathtub with shower, a toilet, a sink, and a shelf mirror. The wall was white, but the floor was light orange. The shelf mirror contained things like towel, rugs, tooth paste, and emergency tooth brushes. There was a small windows on the wall next to the bathtub to allow light to passed through.

The two guest rooms was the same design. A traditional Japanese room with a sliding door. The floor were tatami mats. There was a wardrobe with many futons stored inside. The wall was brown because of the woods used. And the tatami mats was colored light blue. There was a door connected to the yard with a porch. Though the porch was connected from the left side, the backside, and the right side. The front? Bushes of flowers and shrubs was growing there to decorated the house.

And on each guest room, there was a painting. One was a painting of the desert. And the other one was a painting of the mist forest. There was another glass sliding door in the back to go to the backyard, on the wall next to the guest rooms. And the store room... No need to explained it. It was just a simple and small store room.

"Alright! Let's go upstairs!" Tsunade said, take the first step of the stairs. The stairs were made from the same wood the rest of the house floor was. The railing was also made of wood, but painted orange. On the walls, hanged some pictures. Three to be exact. One of Konoha Eleven after the war. Two of Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi, Yamato, Naruto and Sakura. The last was just of Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura. "Ooh! The pictures was hanged! Baa-chan, do you have any more picture like them?" Naruto asked. "Like what? With you in it?" Naruto shook her head. "Any picture. Because I wanted to keep them all. Those that I think precious." Tsunade thought for a while before nodding and promising that she'll find it.

"Moving on! The second floor has 3 bedrooms, one of them was the master bedroom, 2 bathrooms including one in the master bedroom. There's a study and a mini library. Then, a family room. There's also a balcony on each bedroom." Tsunade explained once they reached the second floor.

The bathroom on the hall was the same model of the one downstairs, though the tiles was light yellow. And it's a little wider. The family room had no door and no separating wall from the hall. In the room was many fluffy, comfy and colorful chairs, pillows, and rugs. There was also a television in front of the window with orange curtain, facing the hall. The room was decorated with small table. There were also a few pictures hanged, like Naruto with Teuchi and Ayame in Ichiraku, or Naruto with, Sakura, Hinata, Ino, and Tenten.

The study and mini library was one room. Inside were quite a few bookshelfs on the wall with a table and two chairs on one side of the wall. The room was painted light blue, for a calming image. There was also a carpet in the center of the room with pillows if one wanted to lie down while reading or writing. There was a picture on the table, a picture of Ebisu, Konohamaru, and Naruto training on the hot spring. On the wall was hanged a picture of Naruto with Gaara the Kazekage, Temari, and Kankuro. There was a painting of the rocky mountain hanged on the wall too.

The two bedrooms was next to each other on the left side of the house and the rooms was the same size. The farthest room was painted light yellow with red dots. It has a double bed with ocean blue sheets and matching pillows on the center. There was two bedside table, one containing a table lamp, and the other was free of furnitures. There was a little balcony with wood fences and a small pot of miniature Sakura tree connected to the room with a tall sliding glass window. There was also a set of table and chair and also a wardrobe made from light brown woods. A painting of a beautiful lake from Kumo was hanged above the bed.

The other bedroom was painted light red color with a spark of orange. It also had a double bed, but with a dark grey sheets and matching pillows. There was also two bedside table, one also containing a table lamp and the other free of furnitures. The balcony was also fenced and there was a pot of sunflowers. The room was also complete with a table, a chair, and a wardrobe made of red wood. A painting of multicolored leaves dancing in the wind was also hanged above the bed.

The master bedroom, however, was a wide room. The room was painted bright orange with red and yellow swirls. There was a queen sized bed with golden sheets and pillows with red, yellow, and orange colors on top. There was two beautifully crafted bedside table beside the bed, one had a beautiful table lamp, while the other had a framed picture of the past team seven. The balcony was as long as the room, and it was wide enough to contain a small coffee table and two chairs, connected with a really wide and tall glass window, with the Hidden Village of Konoha as the view below.

Two pot of arranged flowers were decorating the balcony at each corner on the far side. The glass window could be covered with the light red curtain hanging on the railing. Inside the room, a table with a rack above it with it's chair was put on the center across the bed. It has books, brushes, ink, other writing tools, and Naruto's little cactus. A big wardrobe made of wood with golden color was placed next to the entrance door. Above the bed, a painting of the Bijuu together in circle was hanged.

On the left corner of the bed, there was a door which lead to the bathroom. The bathroom was a little bigger than the rest. The wall was light yellow, and the floor was light orange. There was also a bathtub with shower, a toilet, a sink and shelf mirror, but there was an added small table and mirror containing girl's thing, like make ups, ribbons, brush for hair, and many accessories.

"Now! That is all! Itachi, Sasuke, what will you do? Naruto said that she didn't mind at all." Tsunade faced Itachi and Sasuke once they all done touring. Itachi and Sasuke glanced at each other before Itachi smiled. "I'll take the yellow room." Sasuke sighed, "Then I'll take that red room," He smiled a little, "Thanks, Naruto."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. This chapter might be a bit boring since it was a description. A really long description of a house. But, hope you like it.
> 
> By the way, for those celebrating the Chinese New Year, I want to say Happy Chinese New Year for you.
> 
> Once again, thank you.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the late update. I've been so busy with exams that I forgot to write this story. Anyway, here's the new chapter. Enjoy!

Naruto's heart thumped when she saw Sasuke's smile. "Thanks, Naruto." Sasuke said. Naruto couldn't help but replied with a shy smile. "N-no problem. A-anyway, let's move your things here." She said as she walked downstairs. Once the four of them get outside, expectant people had been waiting for what Naruto was going to say. "Soooo...?? What do you think about the house Naruto?" Asked Kiba. Naruto smiled, "I loved it! Thank you everyone! This is the best gift I have ever receive!" Then she went for a group hug with her friends.

"Baa-chan! Thank you too!" She then went to embrace Tsunade. Tsunade returned the hug with so many emotions, happiness, expectation, relieve, and most importantly, hope. "Let's go, brat. We needed to help these two to move in." Tsunade then pointed to the two Uchiha brothers. The villagers cheered and complied their Hokage's order.

"Congratulations, Naruto." The other Kage approached Naruto after that and Gaara congratulate Naruto, holding his hand for her to shake. "We've also known about this plan and our villages had also took part in building this. So it's not only a thanks from Konoha, okay!" The Raikage, Ay, said in a gruffy voice. "You just didn't want to admit that you're happy for her, eh, Raikage?" The Tsuchikage, old man Oonoki, said mockingly. "What did you said old man!?" Ay snarled.

"Now, now! We're not here for fighting! Now that everyone needed to take part in the Kage summit have assembled, it's going to be held soon. So, we shouldn't make a commotion." Mei said. Naruto just laughed and Gaara gave a really rare smirk and chuckled. "Thank you! I'm trully grateful. And for all of the painting too!" She bowed then excused herself to help with the moving, skipping all the way.

_0o0_

"Itachi! These are your things! Don't dump them on me!" Sasuke said while tossing a box full of kunais. Itachi caught it with ease. "Jeez.. The house will be a mess in a short time." Sasuke complained. Naruto, who had been watching the bickering, laughed. "Don't push your perfection on us right now, little brother. We all just moved in, so we need time to adjust ourselves. Not to mention, you and Naruto have that Kage summit to attend to." Itachi said flatly.

"Don't worry about the summit. If you couldn't come, I could go there by myself, Sasuke." Naruto said while she rummaged through her box full of instant ramen. Seeing all the junk food, Sasuke asked, his face making somewhat a disgusted expression, "Did you always eat that?"

"Uh... Well, in the past.. These days, I started to learn how to cook." She shrugged, "After all, I promised that I'll eat more vegetables." Naruto smiled pathetically at herself, realizing that she needed to be reminded not to eat cupped ramen frequently. "That's right! How about we take turn cooking and cleaning? Like, today's Sasuke, tommorow, me, and two days later Naruto? Or vice versa." Itachi suggested, "Though later, it could change due to missions."

"Sure! Alright." Naruto and Sasuke answered in sync. "Buuut.. You'll have to do it tommorow, Itachi! The summit will be held tommorow." Naruto said after a minute. Itachi nodded. The two brother then began to move things to to their room. Naruto's things had been moved from her old apartment and had already been arranged inside her room. However, there were many new things given to her, like clothes, accessories, and even make ups. 'Those make ups are probably from Ino and Sakura.' She thought, 'The clothes from Temari. The accessories from Hinata and Tenten. Those new books and scrolls from Shikamaru, Neji, Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei. Maybe one from Baa-chan too.'

Naruto then went to her new bed. The bed was soft and comfy. Not to mention, big. She picked up the framed picture on the bedside table, of team seven. In the picture, Kakashi was standing behind, while three newly became gennin were on the front. The center was Sakura, smiling cutely and closing her two hands in front of her chest. Naruto was on the lest side of Kakashi, grinning while her left hand on her hips, and her right hand was forming a peace sign. On the right, was Sai, their old teammate, standing perfectly still with only a fake smile on his face. One could say that he was even more stoic that Sasuke.

Seeing the picture brought back many memories to Naruto. Many, many, many, happy memories of their old days. Too bad, Sai was killed on the war while trying to protect Naruto and Sakura.

A tear trailed down her cheek when she remembered how she met Sai for the first time, and how she despised him.

Another tear slid down when she remembered how Sai finally broke through his cold self, and told her that he thought of her as a little sister, told her that he and Sakura actually accepted her as who she was.

More tears fell down when she remembered how Sakura thought that Sai liked Naruto and affraid of destroying her frienship with them because of her feelings, almost ending all of them on the hospital because of an almost failed mission.

More, more, and more tears fell down to the frame when she remembered how the misunderstanding with Sakura was cleared and Sakura's happy face when she and Sai got together that brought out a huge smile from Naruto.

Then she sobbed when she remembered how Sai gave them his life, his face when he said that he still loved Naruto as a sister, and he'd loved Sakura forever, and that's why he could and wanted to protect them. His face when he finally stopped breathing in their arms.

When all her memories flashed like flood, she started crying. She burried her face on one of the orange pillow there and cried. On the war, she couldn't mourn for the fallen. And Sai's death was like an arrow shot through her. It broke her heart, and Sakura's. But they needed to stay strong, especially her. It took a long time to recover from the loss. Even now, Sakura still had that dream and Naruto still feel guilty.

Sasuke was walking down the hall from his brother's room when he heard something from Naruto's room. Curious, he knocked the door. When he got no reply, he just opened the door and was surprised with what he saw. "Naruto! What's wrong?" He rushed to her and crouched down next to the bed. Naruto peeked from the pillow, her eyes red and her cheeks wet from tears. Sasuke then moved to sit on the bed, asking a silent permission which Naruto gave immediately.

Even though Sasuke decided that he wanted to comfort Naruto, but he was clueless as to what to do. His face showed little expression, but he was panicking inside. Right then, he could only soothe Naruto's back, before Naruto suddenly burried her face to his chest. She cried and sobbed, her hands clutched Sasuke's clothes tightly until her knuckles became white. Anchoring herself to Sasuke. Sasuke couldn't do a thing, he could only lend his shoulder... Or in this case, his chest.

After a little while, Naruto's cries became hiccups. She closed her eyes while still clinging on to Sasuke. "Thanks... Sasuke.." She said between hiccups. Sasuke embraced her in return, the first time he had ever shown any feelings with actions to anyone except his brother. "It's fine. What happened? Why are you crying suddenly? Do you want to... Uh.. Talk about it?" He asked, surprising himself that he could actually asked someone to talk to him. Usually, he would just went away. But, with Naruto, he couldn't. He had a feeling that he wanted to be always there for Naruto.

Naruto shook her head, "Maybe later. Sorry..." She said weakly. Sasuke stroked her golden hair, calming her. After a while, Sasuke told Naruto that she probably should sleep since she looked tired. He could feel Naruto nodded slowly, but when he attempted to let go of her, "Sasuke... Could you stay for a moment?" She said sleepy, "Let me stay.. Like this for.. A little.. While... Longer.." Sasuke didn't say anything. He just stayed there. When Naruto finally asleep, he then laid her down and tugged her in. He gazed at her face, noticing the visible tear mark, the red puff of her eyes, and the picture in her hands. He took it and put it back, taking a glanced and then went out of the room.

"Sasuke? What's wrong? It's rare for you to... Care..." Itachi asked once Sasuke's out of the master bedroom. Appearantly, Itachi had been standing next to the door since Sasuke had rushed to Naruto. He had seen everything. "I wonder why she suddenly..." Sasuke couldn't continue. It hurt him too much. Itachi sighed and smiled, "Come! I guess I could tell you a little bit about her. From my connection to her before, I could tell you a few things."

The two brother then went to the living room, a habit of when they needed to discuss something. "I'm sure you know that Naruto is an orphan. Her parents died right after she was born. And from then on, she had been in the care of the Third Hokage." Itachi said as he sat on one of the armchair, Sasuke opposite of him. "She never made any friend, and the villagers hated her in the past. At that time, I guess I was the only person that wanted to talk with her. Our parents didn't have any problems with her too but well, they're busy. And she was quite comfortable with it, though she was still guarded even with me."

Sasuke nodded, "What happened next?" He asked, impatient. "When it was time for you to entered the academy, father told me to train you, right? And that you wouldn't have to enter." Sasuke nodded again, "Naruto entered the academy. She had great difficulties because she didn't have good chakra control because she had very strong chakra. She always used too much chakra and her ninjutsu always failed. So, she trained harder than the rest. Actually, she told me that she failed the academy graduation exam three times." Itachi pondered for a while, remembering it.

"Three times? Seriously? But, she's so strong right now." Sasuke shook his head in disbelieve, his eyes wide. For an Uchiha that is, even though he just opened it a little bit more than he usually did. "Well, when she was twelve, she almost failed too. While the other could at least create three clones, she could only create one, and that's unuseable." Itachi chuckled remembering when Naruto told him, sadly that day. "But... Something happened and... She mastered and created so many shadow clones when her favourite teacher was in trouble. And, she passed. Well.. And that was when father told us that we needed to travel to hone our skills. Did you know, Sasuke? When she came and told me her achievement, then heard the news of us going, she cried."

"But... She didn't got disheartened. She promised me that when we came back, she'll be stronger than she was then. And what do you know... She is, now." Itachi ended it with a small smile. Sasuke took all of the informations, and also smiled. "Thanks, Nii-san. Oh! Do you know who the guy in her team's picture?" Sasuke asked. Itachi nodded. "I know. His name was Sai, Naruto's teammate. I watched her first day as genin before we went on the journey. He's actually more of a jerk, judging from how the two girls reacted. But I heard that he and Naruto was very closed like siblings after. Sadly, he died on the war.. To protect Naruto and his girlfriend."

"I see." Sasuke looked down. He felt pity and admiration for this Sai person but also relieve. He had no clue why he felt relieve, but not because that he died of course. "Nii-san, I want to do something. At least to cheer her up. Help me out." He said, determined, glancing to the ceiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Once again, I'm sorry for the late update. And I will be late again in updating since I have to concentrate on my oncoming exam. Thank you again.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter. Sorry for the late update. I've got a lot on my mind that i don't have time to write.

Chapter 15  
Naruto woke up hearing someone calling her name. She opened her bleary eyes slowly, and sat up. "Naruto, it's already late." Naruto tilted her head to the side to the source of the voice. She groaned and stretched. "Itachi?" She said groggily. "Dinner's ready. Come on down, Naruto." Hearing that, Naruto's eyes shot opened. "Wait! It's already evening!? How long have I slept?" She said panicked, as she jumped off the bed and skipped to the door. "About a few hours." Itachi chuckled. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner!?" She shouted, "I promised Octopops to met up with him on the training ground!"

Naruto hurriedly ran through the stairs, jumped even. "But, the sun has set already, Naruto!" She heard Itachi shouted when she was about to leaped through the door. True enough, the sky was dark when Naruto opened the door, and the street lamps were on. Naruto slumped her shoulder and sighed, then went back into the house. Being in this new house for only a day still made Naruto uncomfortable. She almost fell when she went inside, stumbling on the step in the front door. She was in for a surprised when she entered the kitchen and found the dining table full of food.

"What's with all the food?" Naruto asked, surprised with all the delicious looking food presented in front of her. "Well, Sasuke wanted to cheer you up. Sasuke?" Itachi explained simply. Sasuke nodded. Naruto couldn't help but smiled. "Thank you!" She said, "Then, let's dig in!"

The three of them then dined together. And for the first time in her life, Naruto felt like she finally found the perfect place she could call home.

_0o0_

"Hokage-sama, we now at least know their target. Shouldn't we make a move?" Mei said, breaking the silence of the Kage summit. The five Kage seemed lost about what to do about the bijuu. "If we make a move now, wouldn't that be alerting them about the tailed beasts whereabout?" Ay countered. And once again, silence fell upon the summit. A long sigh left the five Kage as they were stuck on the discussion.

"We should at least know more about them, their real intention, why they wanted the tailed beasts, and how many is the main figure. We've captured one, but we don't know for exactly their real number." Gaara said after a while. Attending the Kage summit was the five Kage and their attendants, Killer Bee - Ay's little brother, the Konoha Eleven as witness, Naruto and Sasuke as the source. "Alright then, Tsunade-hime! Why don't each village sent one investigation team to look for more informations?" Oonoki suggested after hearing Gaara's explanation.

"Well, that's probably the best thing for now. Then let's-" Tsunade said before she was cut by Sasuke. "I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama. If we wanted to sent team for gathering informations, we should pick those who would be able to break out of genjutsu." Sasuke said, remembering the first time that _he_ was caught in the genjutsu, "And I don't know how, but Naruto was the only one unaffected by the genjutsu." All eyes were on Naruto in seconds. Naruto could only laughed sheepishly.

Many questions were asked right then from the other Kage, their attendant, and the Konoha Eleven. Except for Sasuke, Gaara, Temari and Kankurou. Bee didn't need to asked and just stayed silent since he knew the reason.

Naruto just pointed at her stomach when the question was too much for her and everyone went silent immediately. A series of 'oooh!' was heard when it all clicked to them. "Soo.. We could concluded one thing... Somehow, we needed the Bijuu to help us in this. I wonder if they really wanted to help." Oonoki said, his voice tired.

"Don't ya worry, ya old fool! They would agree to us full! Or else they would be null" Bee suddenly sang. A tick appeared on Oonoki forehead, "Did you just call me fool?" He said full of venom. Ay immediately whacked Bee's head and shouted, "You Fool!" Making Bee whined. Soon the room was filled with yelling and laughter. Even though the Kages and the villages were friends, didn't mean that there would be no problem. Especially little things like this. Though, it wouldn't break their friendships.

Once the summit reached a dead end, Sasuke and Naruto wish to take a break and sat down on a bench outside the Hokage's tower, feeling worn out. "The summit is tiring! How the hell did they manage!?" Naruto groaned, tilting her head toward the sky, looking as a bird passed by, her hands on the bench supported her weight. Sasuke sighed, "It was a complicated matter after all. What do you personally think about the way they were acting, Naruto?" Sasuke asked in curiosity. Naruto gave a faraway look for a moment. "Personally, right? Then I think, maybe they couldn't controlled the beasts... Just... Ye..t.... That's it! Sasuke, you're really a genius!" Naruto shouted and hugged Sasuke hard.

Sasuke blinked, "Uh... What?" He asked. Naruto grinned widely and stood -practically jumped- to her feet. "The reason they wanted Gaara and why they didn't make a move! It was all because even if they have the bijuu, they wouldn't be able to asked them to cooperate. The tailed beasts wouldn't trust them immediately. Maybe they wouldn't trust them at all." Naruto explained and let go of Sasuke. Then Sasuke thought about it, and it made sense.

"I believe that is correct." Someone suddenly said from behind them, making them jumped. The person wore a gray cloack that covered their whole body, the hoodie covered most of their face. Even so, both Konoha shinobi could tell that the person was a woman.

"Who... Are you?" Sasuke asked cautiously, holding a hand in front of Naruto to kept her protected. The woman began to grab the hoodie and slide it off, revealing her face. "Please don't raise an alarm. I am the new citizen who rent the old apartment of the lady over there, I supposed. But I am also here to warn you about the danger the five hidden village will come across if nothing were to be done quickly." She said, her face showed uncertainty and insecurity, also showing great despair and a bit of hope when she learned that the two were listening to her. "My name is Asami. I am here to asked for help and protection from Konoha in exchange for informations and help too."

"What kind of information?" Sasuke asked fiercely. Asami closed her eyes and breathed in and out. "Information about the group that targeted the tailed beasts and the remaining jinchuuriki. If you would believe me, I could tell you and also become your eyes for more informations." Naruto grabbed Sasuke's arm and put it down, smiling when she get a worried look from him.

"Before we could trust you, you have to gain our trust, Asami-san. I will talk to the five Kage, and then all will be decide by them. Is that alright?" Naruto asked, giving Asami a pointed look, testing whether she would back off or not. And as expected, she didn't back off. She nodded in understanding and the three of them walked back inside the Hokage building, Asami following the two shinobi closely behind. "By the way, I haven't introduce myself. I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet you. And this is Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto said once inside the building, pointing at herself and then Sasuke.

Asami smiled and nodded, making an affirmative sound that she had heard it. They walked on silence for a little while longer before Naruto stopped in front of the meeting room where she knew the five Kage and the rest of Konoha Eleven were. And surprisingly, for once, she actually knocked on the door before opening it. "What's wrong, Naruto? Sasuke? I thought that you asked for break." Tsunade asked when she saw Naruto at the door. Then she raised a curious eyebrow at the person behind the both of them. "Who's that?"

"She's Asami. She said that she had information about those person who after the tailed beast and the jinchuuriki." Naruto said. Everyone in the room were stunned. "Asami-san, please come inside and explain it to us. We'll hear you out." The Hokage said after a moment of consideration. Hinata stood up and went to get a chair for Asami to sat down, which Asami accepted with a thankful smile. After inhaling a deep breath, she began.

"Actually, it was my family who wanted to get the tailed beast. My father, to be exact. He is strong, and no one in our family could stop him. I don't know how, but words got out that my father gained his power from the... Dark. He yearned for it to be stronger and he did became stronger. He wanted to have the strongest power on the whole world. So when rumours got out after the war that someone defeated the reanimated Uchiha Madara, my father became enraged. Because even he could not even defeated one... Uuh.. Frog, he said? I don't know what he meant by that." She explained, "But I know that he didn't like to be defeated by the person he called Frog."

"Even if he never stood out since he didn't craved for authority, he still keep an eye on the world. To see whether he was still the strongest. One day, long ago, my father met with the Frog, and they engaged in a batle. Which my father lost. Then, he only accepted the Frog as someone who is stronger than him. So now, after hearing that someone defeated the reanimated Uchiha Madara that was even stronger than the Frog, he couldn't accepted it. He set his eyes on the strong power that helped the Shinobi Alliance to overcome Madara, the tailed beast and the jinchuuriki. He wanted it all for himself." Asami looked down and a single tear pass down her cheek. "Father was so obsessed and he didn't think straight. He forced all of us, his children, to gathered informations. And if possible, the tailed beast and the jinchuuriki."

Asami softly sobbed, as she remembered how her father was too eager, that whenever her brothers or sisters come back home without bringing what father wanted, he would beat them up. Seeing the hurt on Asami's eyes, Naruto withdrew to her inner conciousness. Facing Kurama silently, thinking about what she wanted to say.

" _Kid, you believe her, don't you?_ " Kurama said after a while of observing Naruto. Naruto nodded. Even if it was naïve of her to trust someone so easily, she knew. Somehow, she could feel that Asami was telling the truth.

" _I don't know why, Kurama. I feel like she was telling the truth. What do you think? Should we trusted her?_ " Naruto asked, hoping that the fox would help her a bit. Knowing that this was related to the fox too.

" _Well, even if she lied, this information was plenty. So, at least, we could prepare for a surprised attack. Though, you should asked for more!_ " Kurama said boredly, laying back again to sleep.

Naruto smiled and turned her back. " _Thanks, Kurama!_ " She then return back to reality. "Asami-san... The person is your father. So why did you came and gave us informations?" Naruto asked. Asami looked up to met her gaze before she looked down again. "My father didn't think clearly. He was too caught up in having his wishes fulfilled that he didn't think of the consequence. My brother and I couldn't follow him anymore. We couldn't abide with our father's wishes. And so, we acted innocently and silently we searched for help."

"Wait, brother? Where is he now? He's not with you right now, isn't he?" Sasuke asked again. Asami shook her had, "He wanted me to settled in Konoha first while he worked something with it. He'll join me in a few days." She explained but corrected herself when she saw the looks dirrected at her. "Please understand. It's not like I was sacrificing my brother. I also didn't want to leave him. But it would be ugly if they caught on to us. We understand this and we agreed that my brother will make sure to get us away, while I found a place that's safe for both of us. We are masters of controlling people's mind without them knowing. But there was a difference in power. Our oldest brother is the strongest, while I am the weakest."

"Hmmm... Have you heard of one of yours taken to the Sand?" Gaara asked after a while. Asami once again nodded. "My brother and I have heard about it. But I'm not sure about the others whether they have known or not. All of my father's children were adopted. And our abilities were that of mind control. Some of us have other abilities. But mostly, they were just controlling mind. It is not significant. However, my brother and I are blood related siblings, and we have a trait. We could gather informations with just having to let our chakra travel to places. So my brother and I knew. And, Naruto-san. You're quite amazing to actually broke free from my sister's mind control." Asami smiled amazed.

Naruto smiled sheepishly before remembering something. "Asami-san! How did we actually break free of the mind control jutsu?" Asami looked at her and answered be telling her that it would be answered soon enough. "Alright! Did anyone got it on paper?" Tsunade asked and Shikamaru raised his hand saying he's got it silently. "Good! Now, I know that all those informations are not for free. What do you want from us then, Asami?" She asked after confirming the scroll Shikamaru gave her.

Asami nodded and then said, "I wanted the Shinobi Alliance to help me and my brother to stop my family. We couldn't do it alone, and so we need help. Especially from someone like Naruto-san who could break free of the mind control. Oh, and... I want protection while we're here. It's fine if you're going to put us on watch since I know that we are literally in enemies teritory. But please, we needed your cooperation in this so... Please let us stay until this is over. That is all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Leave me a comment for the story if you'd like.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a new chapter. Enjoy.

"We're back!" Naruto and Sasuke said in sync when they arrived home. The both of them looked very drained. Well, after the day's event which began with the Kage summit, and then Asami's appearance, and all the informations and all the thing needed to be done after, how could one not be drained?

Arriving home, the both of them were welcomed by the smell of something delicious. They went to the kitchen and then...

The sight that greeted them almost made them both fainted. Itachi was cooking. Well, that's not really surprising, since Naruto had said that today was his turn. But the surprising part was that Itachi was wearing an apron! AN APRON!

"Itachi! Where the heck did you find THAT!?" Sasuke shouted, so out of character, and pointed at Itachi. Itachi just raised an eyebrow. "I was cleaning the clothes Naruto saved for us, and I found mom's apron. So I used it. To get the feel of it." He said flatly, "You ok, Naruto?"

Naruto had been trying to hold the laugh threatening to spilled. But when Itachi said that, Naruto couldn't hold it in. She laughed, hard. "I-Itachi! You... You don't.. Haha.. You're not feeling it!! Hahahaha!" Seeing Naruto laugh made the two brother smiled. Then Naruto, still catching up for breath, sat down on the dining table, followed by Sasuke who sat beside her and Itachi in front of her. And once Naruto had trully stopped laughing, they began to eat in the comfortable silent. Until Itachi asked how their day went.

Naruto groaned loudly in stress, and Sasuke sighed tiredly. "You won't believe how it escalate into something more than just the Kage summit." She said after she gulped down the food in her mouth. "It was so troublesome! I'm not even Shikamaru and I am saying troublesome here!" Itachi chuckled hearing Naruto exaggerating the event of the day. Even Sasuke couldn't help but smiled.

She began to tell Itachi all things that happened during the day. "-then there's this person telling me that I was right and then asked to have a meeting with Tsunade-baachan and-"

"Alright, Naruto! Let's continue this later, shall we? We have a dinner to finish." Itachi said after a while of Naruto ranting and telling him about her day. Naruto pouted because she was interrupted, but shut her ranting anyway. She then engorged herself in her food.

The dinner then went by in comfortable silent. When they were done, Itachi went to wash the dishes while Naruto and Sasuke went to watched the television in the living room. They watched a show about animals and nature until Itachi joined them. "Naruto... You could continue your story then." Itachi said once he came to the living room with tea. Naruto and Sasuke looked up to Itachi, before Naruto sighed.

"I'm not up to it now... I'm too tired..." She rubbed her face with her arms. "Though, I guess tomorrow there will be training to break free of that mind control jutsu..." She said. Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Mind control jutsu?" He asked curious. He looked at his little brother and Naruto, a silent request to tell him. "I'll do the details. Naruto, you go and rest." Sasuke said after recalling the day after the agreement. Naruto nodded and smiled, then went to her room.

**_Earlier that day_**  


After the five kage had agreed to the conditions Asami set, they began to plan. "Now that we have more informations, we could at least plan a few things ahead. Where should we start?" Tsunade asked the other Kage. Naruto said after thinking for a bit, "We should do something first about the mind control jutsu. Since they relied on it to gather informations they needed. And if we could prevent them from taking control of important figures, maybe we could increase our chance in protecting the Tailed Beast." The Kages looked at her and nodded. "We'll sent a team to Konoha to train under Asami. But for now... We'll make do." Oonoki said, smiling in acceptance of the very idea.

The other Kage nodded once again. "Hmmm... I could make do with the people here. Konoha Eleven will train under Asami, add Sasuke and Itachi, then probably a few more and we're set. Naruto, could you call Kakashi, Gai Yamato... Ah, we'll be adding Shizune too, so call her. And... I'll thought about others later." Tsunade said giving Naruto a look that she better get going. Getting her cue, Naruto immediately formed 4 shadow clones and disperse them, while the original stayed.

Naruto grinned, "Why did the original need to do things when she had her clones to help? Especially when it was an important things." That eased the tension in the room a bit. "Now, what else should we do? Should we mention it to the villagers?"

Sasuke was the one who said this time, "Maybe we shouldn't. If they could get control of the villagers, then they could easily earned informations. Oh, and Naruto... You said something about the tailed beast before we met Asami-san?" Naruto glanced at Sasuke then put her hand on her chin as she thought. "What did I say again?" She asked after a while, looking utterly confused. For the first time, Asami let out a little laugh.

"You were saying about how my father didn't have any control over the tailed beast yet, Naruto-san." Asami said.

"Oh.. That's right... Umm.. I guess then.. I was right? That he can't actually use the mind control jutsu to control the tailed beast?" Naruto asked. Asami nodded, "The tailed beast chakra are too strong, even for my father." That earned a smile from Naruto. After that, the rest was a blur of activities that include preparation for the next day, to planning if the enemies really got the tailed beast.

**_Current time_ **

"I see... So we'll be training tommorow from morning until afternoon?" Itachi asked after hearing the informations from Sasuke. Sasuke nodded and yawn. Seeing this, Itachi smiled. "Go ahead and rest, Sasuke. I'll clean this up." He said then he stood up and took the tea cup. But before he could leave the living room, Sasuke stopped him.

"Itachi... Do you know who's Konoha's Jinchuuriki?" Itachi stopped on his track, then turned back to face his brother. "Why did you asked, Sasuke?" He asked back. Sasuke just shrugged. "I was wondering. How am I going to help protect them if I don't know who to protect? Do you know them?"

"I have heard some rumours, but not the details. But little brother, I believe that you'll know them for sure. Now, go and have a bath! And I'll have you check on Naruto too. Go now." Itachi told his brother and push him in the direction of the stairs. Sasuke nodded without looking back then disappeared to the second floor. Itachi sighed when he knew that he was left alone downstair. "Now's not the right time to talk about the jinchuuriki carelessly right... Naruto?"

_0o0_

Naruto woke up for a start the next day when a sudden urge forced her to go the toilet. Once she got back to bed, she couldn't fall asleep again. So she got up, opened the curtains to let some light in. But to her surprised, the sun hadn't even risen yet. She looked at the alarm clock she set on her bedside table where team seven picture was put. 'It's still 4 in the morning! What the hell!?'

She went back to the bed and plopped down to it. She tossed and turned on the bed a few time. After 5 minutes of tossing and turning, she let out a frustated groan. She had slept enough that she couldn't close her eyes again for more that a minute. So she sat up, ruffling her own hair, then went to the balcony of her room. Leaning on the fence, she looked to her beloved village with a smile. "Dad... I'll definitely protect them all. The Bijuu, the Kage, my friends, and the remaining jinchuuriki. I won't fail." Her face set into the determined looks she had always had before as she swore to the village.

She turned her heels again after that and went to the bathroom to cleanse herself, deciding to take a long relaxing bath. She filled the bathtub with water and added the scented soap to it. The smell of roses filled the air soon after and then she discarded all her clothes and soaked herself. A contentment sigh left her lips once she settled down under the water.

" _Kit, I know you wanted to relax. But there are more things for you to do than just soaking yourself with bubbles._ " Kurama comment. Naruto sighed, internally and externally.

" _I know! At least let me enjoy my morning bath! I have a lot of time before the intended time!_ " Naruto replied with a pout, not really caring if she looked like a little kid. Though, maybe she was a little kid in front of Kurama. Kurama just rolled his eyes and went back to sleep again.

But when it became silent again, it wasn't the comfortable silence it was once. Naruto sighed again and closed her eyes. To kept her entertained, she thought of any posible ways she was able to come up with for countering the mind control jutsu. But her mind just seemed too clouded to actually think about anything. She dipped her head into the water then stood out in a flash that got water to splash all over the place. She didn't mind. Instead, she kept walking and put on a simple set of clothes then she went out of her room and made way to the kitchen.

An hour after that, Sasuke went down to the kitchen. His eyes widen a fraction when he saw Naruto on the counter. She was cutting some onion for the day's breakfast. Her long golden hair was untied, she wore an orange tank top and a pair of black short pants. A pink tint worked it's way to Sasuke's cheek when Naruto turned around, smiled, and said "Morning, Sasuke!".

"M-morning." He said. Not that Sasuke never seen Naruto without her hair in twin tails. He was just surprised that Naruto actually wore some other clothes outside of her shinobi attire since she never wore other attire when she was on her missions or at least before when she's with him. 'I should have expected this.' He thought, ‘I'm living with her after all.’ He inwardly scolded himself.

"You haven't take a bath yet, Sasuke?" Naruto asked after a minute. Sasuke just shrugged and said, "I was just about to. Though, I wanted to have a drink first." He made his way to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water kept there then flinched when his brain felt like it froze. He stood still for a moment then walked back to the second floor to wash up.

Naruto was just finishing their breakfast preparations when Sasuke walked in again with Itachi. "Morning! Breakfast ready in a min!" She said cheerfully. Itachi nodded with a small smile and sat down on the dining table, while Sasuke approach Naruto and asked, "You need help with something?" Naruto turned her attention to Sasuke before answering, "Get the drink, please." Smiling softly.

"What do you want, Itachi?" Sasuke asked when he opened the fridge, "We have... milk, orange juice, and... water." Itachi just chuckled before correcting his brother that it was still 6 in the morning and they should have something hot and warm, not cold and freezing. Sasuke spluttered, saying that he forgot and Naruto snickered. "I'll make tea then!" He said defensively.

Half an hour later, they finished their breakfast and Naturo gathered all the dishes. "When is the time to meet with the others?" Itachi asked. Sasuke leaned back to his wooden chair before answering, "At 9 till 2. We don't have time to actually slack off, but seems like the others got other things to do." Itachi nodded.

"Oh, right! Sasuke, could you make today's dinner? After we train with Asami, I got another training session with Shikamaru, Kakashi-sensei, and Baa-chan." Naruto stated while she was cleaning the dishes behind the counter. "What kind of training?" Sasuke asked.

"Umm.. I asked them to tell me my parents jutsus. Especially my dad's. And my mom's chain-like jutsu or something." She said, "They had a variety of jutsu that I could try and might succeed. And also, I needed some training on how to... deal with others villages heads."

Sasuke asked what kind of training she was going through to deal with villages heads, but Naruto didn't give him any absolute answer. Just saying "I'll tell you when I'm ready!" So once again, Sasuke just shrugged it off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Please leave comment so that I can improve to be better.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry for the late update. I got pretty busy when I started working. And I was thinking on rewriting this story. After it's finished. So, sorry for the wait. Enjoy!

When the three of them reached the training ground, many of the selected people had gathered there.

From Konoha, Tsunade, Shizune, Shikaku, Kakashi, Gai, Yamato, Sakura, Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Lee, Tenten, Neji, Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi.  
From Suna, Gaara, Kankurou, Temari, and Baki.  
From Kumo, Ay, Killer Bee, Shee, Darui, Omoi, and Kamui.  
From Kiri, Mei, Choujurou, and Ao.  
From Iwa, Oonoki, Kurotsuchi, and Akatsuchi.

"Alright! Most of you already know the purpose of this training! So I expect that we would get a step closer to wining against the group who currently set their eyes on the Bijuu and jinchuuriki!" Tsunade stated as a start for Asami to begin. Asami nodded before facing the entire group. "I-I'll just explain how this work a bit." She started.

"When we tried to control mind, we first tried to find a way to access the chakra. Usually, we use our voice. But sometimes, we could also just use our own cakra, so you must be careful. I'll show it to you, but I need a volunteer." Asami explained. When no one walked forward, Asami heaved out a small sigh. But then, Naruto walked to her. "I'll be your volunteer. I just need to have your word that you really won't do anything to betray us."

Naruto was calm but the warning in her voice when she said that was clear. Asami nodded, she knew all too well the feeling of trusting someone completely but then betrayed was excruciating. And she wouldn't blame them that they couldn't trust her yet. She was, after all, from their enemy's turf. "I promise. And if you couldn't break free, I'll stop the jutsu." That earned a smile from Naruto.

Asami began making the hand sign for her jutsu and Naruto kept a good watch on it. The others around them also kept a good observation. As an added measure, Neji and Hinata activated their byakugan, Sasuke and Itachi activated their sharingan along with Kakashi. The others were sharpening their senses to be cautious.

"Ready, Naruto-san!" Asami stated as a warning and released her jutsu.

Naruto felt like her body weight more than usual and there was a tingly sensation from the tip of her toes then crawling up to her head in a flash before disappearing and left her to felt like normal. But when she tried, she couldn't move her body. And just like the first time, she couldn't contol her own chakra.

"Naruto-san, can you still hear me?" Asami asked, and Naruto could hear her loud and clear, though she couldn't answer. Asami smiled knowingly and continued, "Your body and chakra might not respond to you after you get controlled. But your mind still respond at first. So I'm sure that you could still understand. Alright! To break free, you have to concentrate on your power. Like how you're breaking free from a genjutsu."

She tried to control her chakra with her mind, tried to grasp control over her body. But either Asami lied about her power or she didn't try hard enough or she was too dependant on Kurama.

" _What are you doing, Kit! You're supposed to concentrate, not whining about how you can't get it right!_ " Kurama scolded Naruto when Naruto whined about how her mind wouldn't cooperate.

" _I am trying to concentrate! But my mind isn't in sync with me, Kurama!_ " She said panicking inwardly. Kurama just sighed and smacked her head with one of is giant finger.

" _Hey! What was that for, Kurama!?_ " She asked in annoyance. Kurama just shrugged.

" _Just try to do it like when you trained with Jiraiya._ " He said before he went back to sleep.

Naruto pouted inwardly, but tried once again to concentrate. She thought how she got to where she was now. How she tried so hard to became strong. How she... and Jiraiya first got the idea of how to create the Oodama Rasengan. Instead of letting the chakra out, you spin, and spin, and spin it insinde you. Well, not quite, as the Oodama Rasengan was spun outside her body.

That was what she tried to do. She put her mind into controlling at least one of her chakra point. When she got it, she tried to contol the chakra to free the other chakra point. In a few second, she was free of the mind control jutsu.

When she could control her body again, "Hah... That was not the hard way... Uh.. Right?" She asked. Asami just chuckled. "How long did I take?" Naruto looked around her. Tsunade smiled proudly, "Just about a minute, brat! Not bad!" Naruto beamed but then she frowned.

"Asami-san.. Is there any other way?" Asami shook her head. "If there is, it's not something I master. I know that the method is hard, especially when we're in battle fields. Our enemies will not give us any time to rest. But I believe that's the only way. Except, you have any other idea." Naruto sighed an nodded in understanding. "I supposed. I guess we'll be here without break then."

The others around them began to discuss things with Neji, Hinata, Sasuke, Itachi and Kakashi. They told their finding in different ways. Neji and Hinata said what they saw with Naruto controlling her chakra point. Sasuke and Itachi explained the spinning chakra Naruto did. And Kakasi asked Naruto a thing or two, "You tried to create a rasengan on your chakra point, Naruto... With only your mind?"

Naruto turned her head to Kakashi and nodded. "I was reminded of the time when Ero-sennin taught me how to stop genjutsu. And how to spin my chakra inside of me. And that's how I'm free. Though it's hard to control the chakra point since you have to really concentrate on it.." She answered truthfully, "But, It's worth it once you could do that." Kakashi nodded. "Hmm... Maybe we all should try it." Mei said to the others and to Asami. Asami nodded and they began the training.

Three hours full of training later, "Argh! This is hard! How did you do it, Naruto!!??" Kiba shouted in frustation, followed with a few defeated sigh. The one who had grasped the way to dispell the jutsu were only a handful. Sasuke and Itachi, since they were a prodigy and caught things fast, Kakashi since he's experience with rasengan, the five Kage since they were.. well, the Kage, Killer Bee since he's similar to Naruto in their body condition, Temari, Shikamaru, Neji, and Hinata, since they were geniuses. Kankurou? Well, he's also a genius.. but only when it came to fighting with puppets and all.

Naruto just laughed at her dog-lover friend. Even Shino was sulking since his bugs couldn't dispelled it too. "Take your time. We still got time for training. My father will not make a move until he's sure that his plan would work. And I'll make sure you're ready for his plans and he'd fail." Asami said, encouraging everyone present. Naruto smiled at that. Asami might be from the enemy's turf, but she kept to her word. Naruto could see that right to her heart that she wasn't lying.

"We'll take 15 minutes break. If you don't bring any lunch box, you better hold the hunger 'till 2 o'clock." Tsunade said, taking her lunch box from under a tree nearby. Luckily, all of them had a lunch ready and they dig in right away. "Asami, are you sure that you're the weakest?" Oonoki asked while they were eating. Asami turned her head to the Tsuchikage before nodding and facing her head forward again. "Yes. Our power are measured by how many people we could control at once and how long. Or how strong the control we have on people. My control is easily broken and I could only control a few. So..."

"I see. That means that this training is just the begining." Oonoki summarised. Asami nodded before she looked around. "Hmm.. Asami-san, can you fill me in with one more thing?" This time, Shikamaru asked and continued when he have Asami's permission, "Did your father told you abot the Frog? How he looked like?" That perked everyone's interest.

"He kind of did one time. And I'm grateful that it was just before this happened. He said that the Frog has white hair, long and spiky. He had red tattoo on his face, and mostly wore red and green. He's quite strong and father said that the Frog was actually well known." Asami explained briefly but right on mark. Shikamaru nodded and asked how the Frog actually won. But Asami didn't know since her father also didn't know how. "Thanks! That helps a bit. But then, who's this Frog guy?" Shikamaru asked himself out loud. His father, Shikaku, along with Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune, Yamato and Naruto had a vague idea on who's the Frog actually was though.

"Maybe it was..." Naruto started, but stopped herself before she said more, the topic was too confidential in front of Asami. When she noticed the hopeful glance the others gave her, she smiled and shook her head. "Nothing!" She quickly said. Soon, they continued their training. By the time it was suppose to finished, they had began to grasp how it works. "Man! That's hard!" Kiba said, throwing his hand behind his neck then strolled away after saying thanks to the others. Hinata and Shino followed closed behind.

"Chouji! Let's go get something to drink! I'm parch! Leave Shikamaru and Temari alone!" She whispered the last part. "Sorry to disappoint you, Ino. But I've still got some training to do with Naruto and Tsunade-sama." Shikamaru said rather smugly, having anticipated the remark. Ino stood shock for a second before pouting and stomping away with Chouji. "Then, we'll be going too. Tenten, Lee- Lee!" Neji called out to Lee when he saw that Lee had actually ran ahead, hand-walking, shouting, "Let's train some more! We cannot waste our time of youuuuuth!" Followed by Gai "That's right, Lee! It's the spring time of youth!" Neji and Tenten sweatdropped and bowed to the others, saying sorry for their friend's and mentor's antics then they went to follow them, more reserved.

"Well, then. Since we're here, why don't we enjoy the day and relax a bit. We've been tense since yesterday. And my back is killing me." Oonoki said, rubbing his sore back. "Of course, Tsuchikage-sama! I was hoping to actually stroll around the village." Mei agreed. "Hmph! Why not? We're here anyway." Ay said, "You coming, Kazekage?" Gaara shook his head. " I wanted to stay and see Naruto's training. Thank you for inviting me, though."

"Then, we'll be free for they day huh..? Let's go to the hot spring!" Kankurou suggest. Choujurou, Shee, Darui, Omoi, and Karui agreed. "Go ahead! I'm staying here with Gaara." Temari said. "Hmm.. I actually wanted to go to grab something to eat." Ao said. "Ooooh! I want to take a bite too! I'm coming!" Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi said. They all left, leaving Naruto, Tsunade, Shikamaru, Sakura, Kakashi, Yamato, Killer Bee, Gaara, Temari, Asami, Sasuke and Itachi. "I guess it's our cue to go too, little brother." Itachi said to Sasuke after the other had gone. Sasuke nodded. "Yeah. Naruto, you're going to be here until dark?"

"Don't know. Maybe yes, maybe not. Just save me the dinner or keep it in the refrigerator if I didn't get home past 7." Naruto said to Sasuke. Sakura asked where the two brother will be going and when they said the shopping district, she asked to come and asked Asami to come with her too and they agreed. She hugged Naruto and then said goodbye to her which she replied.

Once they were out of earshot, "Alright, Naruto. You asked me to open up a scroll of how to do the Hiraishin jutsu, right?" Kakashi glanced at Naruto, "I have the scroll right here. But, you're fast enough with Kurama's chakra and the six path's chakra. So why?" Naruto looked at Kakashi, "Well... I don't want to always depend on Kurama's chakra. Like now, we have to hide from them. If I used Kurama's chakra, then that means I'm showing myself as the jinchuuriki. So, I want to find a way to fight them, to move fast without using Kurama's chakra and Hirashin is the perfect jutsu. That.. And my mom's chain-like jutsu?"

"The Adamantine Sealing Chain?" Tsunade asked, "You sure about it?" Naruto nodded, smiling sheepishly. "Yeah. I at least wanted to try if I could do it. After all... It was the clans jutsu ability. Sadly, I don't know if Konoha had the scroll..." Tsunade sighed before turning to walked back toward her office, but before she walked a step, "I'll look into it. So, in the mean time, you can work on the Hiraishin. Report to me about your progress by the end of the day, Naruto!" Naruto grinned and nodded.

Once the Hokage was out of sight, "Alright! Let's begin!"

_0o0_

"Sooo, how's living with Naruto?" Sakura asked when they got too silent. The four of them were walking toward the shopping district, Asami beside Sasuke who's beside Itachi who's beside Sakura. Itachi took a glace at her and smiled. "I guess that it's kind of surprising. I never know that Naruto could cook, or clean, or that she's quite organised." He comment. Sakura grinned, "Thank god! She was a mess when she was in her younger years. I mean... Her apartement. And when the villagers agreed to make her a house, I was kind of worried that she would be lonely. Especially after the war. Good things you guys came along." Relief prominent in her voice.

"Were all of you fighting in the war?" Asami asked shyly. "My brother and I weren't. We were on the other side of the war zone and we didn't know about the war until after a few month had passed. Though we sometimes could feel some explosion a bit in the form of earthquake or the rumbling in the air, we paid no mind. Just thought that it was... something." Sasuke said without so much turning to look at her. Asami nodded her head and smiled a small relief smile. "Little brother, what are you going to make for today's dinner?" Itachi asked Sasuke after that.

Sasuke looked at her brother before looking forward again. He was silent for a while that Sakura and Asami thought that Sasuke was ignoring Itachi. Itachi knew better. "Dangojiru and grilled fish. We have some vegetables, seaweed, and tofu. We just need to buy some fish and dumpling ingredients." Sasuke answered. Itachi nodded his approval. "Alright, little brother. Lead the way then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for now. Please leave some comment so that I could get better at writing stories. I really love writing, so it'll be a great help.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long update. Since it's Christmas, I thought of updating while I have the time to finished this chapter. Enjoy!

"I'm home." Naruto said once she was inside. She peeked into the kitchen, though the room was dark since the light was off. She wanted to look for dinner, but then she thought, 'Dinner will have to wait a bit.' She turned to the living room and plopped down on the couch there. Her training for the day exhaust her since she couldn't grasp the jutsu, though there has been a little progress with all the shadow clones she made. "It'll probably take about a few weeks till I could do the jutsu." She mumbled to herself, her arm over her eyes.

"So, your training didn't progress like you hoped?" A smooth voice said from the door. Naruto sat up, surprised that she didn't feel his presence. "Sasuke!... Yeah... I didn't think it'll be this hard. Since when have you been there?" She asked, rubbing her neck a bit sheepishly. Sasuke smirked. "A little while. Have you had dinner yet?" Naruto shook her head. Sasuke then proceed to went to the kitchen. "I'll heat it up for you. Come on." Naruto smiled and offered a thanks.

Naruto sat on the chair while Sasuke heat the food. They had small talk about the training that morning, Sasuke's shopping trip, and the comfortable dinner he and Itachi had. Then Naruto told Sasuke about her own training, how Kakashi tried to explain the basic of the Hiraishin, how Shikamaru tried to find a more sufficient way to teach her, and how she could only do the first part of the marking by the end of the day. They both laughed at a few joked Naruto made.

"Basically, our day went fine, then." Sasuke said, sitting across Naruto and watching her gobbled the food down, a little smile plastered on his face. Naruto nodded, smilling then she looked at the food after a while. Suddenly, all traces of happiness seems to dull for a moment in the blue eyes. "Yeah... Better cherish the time. Don't know when this fine day will turn into a nightmare." Sasuke looked at Naruto hearing that. Seeing the slight hurt in her eyes, Sasuke immediately stood up and went to her. She stared at him a little startled. He then brought her into a hug saying, "I don't know what makes you have those hurt looks in your eyes, but I want to get rid of it."

Naruto's eyes widen, she didn't expect Sasuke to say something like that. When he pulled back, Sasuke was also taken aback by what he did and said. Both blushed. "T-tha... Thanks.." Naruto stuttered. Sasuke just nodded and asked Naruto to finish her meal. When she was done, Sasuke took the dishes and washed it, while Naruto mop the table. Then both went to their room.

The next day, Naruto also woke up at dawn. She made breakfast again and asked Sasuke to make dinner. Then they ate and went to the training ground. They continued the training, get lunch, resume again. After the training finished, they would go their separate way and Naruto would stay with Shikamaru, Kakashi, Yamato, Gaara, Temari, Bee, and Tsunade for another training session. Sasuke or Itachi would go to the market, and bought dinner ingredients, either of them would make dinner and eat together. Naruto went back at 8 and Sasuke would wait for her in the kitchen, heating the food. She then ate, having small talk with Sasuke. They would clean up then went to their room. This happened for about a week.

_0o0_

"Naruto, you've been doing this non stop for a while. Take a rest first." Shikamaru said one day when the training session had been going for halfway. Naruto had been trying to do the Hiraishin for a week and also the training to blocked out the mind control jutsu without Kurama's chakra. Shikamaru had noticed that Naruto get tired more easily the last two days, and that's not a good sign. The blonde jinchuuriki had never been ill before, but maybe, just maybe, all the training took a toll on her. But she refused to take a break.

"I'm fine, Shikamaru. I've almost finished the marking." Naruto said. Shikamaru sighed, knowing that once Naruto had set her eyes on something, she would see to it until it came true. "At least, take a minute break and have some snacks?" He tried again. Naruto looked at Shikamaru and sighed herself. She knew that Shikamaru was worried about her. After all, she trained non stop from 9am to 7pm everyday. Not as extreem as when she was training before the war but, she was training non stop either way.

"Naruto, it's not good to strain yourself. You have to reserve your chakra supply for the oncoming battle. Right now, we don't know how strong our next enemy except for what Asami described for us. So, we need to be more prepared." Kakashi reminded, still reading the 'Icha Icha Paradise' that Jiraiya wrote. Naruto tried to protest, saying that she'll be just fine, but was interupted by Gaara. "Kakashi is right, Naruto. Take a rest!"

Naruto pouted but went to sit under the tree. The others soon joined her and they just sat in silence, enoying each other's company. That was until they heard a light snore. Thay all turned their head to the source and what they saw made them all laughed slightly. In those silent moment, it seemed that Naruto began dozing off. "That just shows how tired she was." Temari said, snickering at the stubborn, now sleeping girl.

Kakashi then assured the other that he'd take Naruto back, so the group dispersed. He then hoisted Naruto up and proceed to Naruto's residence. When he arrived, Itachi was the one to greet him. "Oh, Kakashi-san. What's wrong-? What happened?" He greeted once he saw Kakashi with Naruto, sleeping soundly. Kakashi just smile under his mask and asked if he could come in. Itachi granted it. Inside, Kakashi was greeted by Sasuke, who after seeing Naruto hauled up by Kakashi, began to panic.

"Don't worry, Sasuke. She's just asleep, from exhaustion I guess." Kakashi explained. Sasuke exhaled in relief. "Idiot. If she was tired, she could have said so and take the day off." He murmured making his brother and the silver haired man smiled. He then proceed to asked Kakashi to joined dinner with them and took Naruto from Kakashi to lay her down in her room.

"I didn't think that Sasuke could be influenced by Naruto this much. He didn't seem as impassive as you told me in the start." Kakashi commented after the youngest Uchiha was out of earshot. Itachi chuckled. He had to agree with the silver haired ninja. Sasuke had been more expressive after meeting Naruto. Not to mention, he seems to be developing feelings for Naruto while his curiosity was on the blonde. 'And that's a good sign,' Itachi thought. "I couldn't agree more, Kakashi-san. Now then, since you'll be having dinner with us. Why don't we relax while watching tv?"

Upstairs, Sasuke put Naruto down on her bed and tucked her in the comforter. He watched her for a moment, noting the barely noticeable bag under her eyes and scowled. She was pushing herself, and Sasuke didn't like it if she came home like this. He unconciously raised his hand to touch her cheek softly, and caught himself when she squirmed a bit. He retracted his hand then went to sit at the edge of the bed. He didn't know what he was feeling. But one thing for sure. He wanted to protect Naruto from whatever harm coming her way. When Sasuke finally went downstair again, he then get on with dinner preparation.

_0o0_

Naruto woke up later two hours later, and glower at herself. 'I just fell asleep when the training session was in process.' She thought while glaring at the wall across her bed. She sighed and sniffed herself a bit before wincing. She smelled like sweat and dirt. She immediately discarded her clothes and she run the shower. She felt like soaking herself so she plugged the drain and waited until the bathub was filled. She let out a little moan when the warm water caressed her body. She scrubbed herself clean and washed her hair, humming while she did so. Done, she wrapped herlself in towels and leave the bathroom.

Naruto then threw her towel to the ground and dug through her closet to find something comfortable for the night. She grabbed a black sleeveless shirt and a white shorts. she also took a pair of clean undergarments. Just as she finished pulling her lingeries on herself, the door opened. " Naruro, are you... a.. wake..." Sasuke came in to check on her and to call her to dinner. As soon as his eyes landed on Naruto wearing only lingeries, both of them froze. Sasuke's eyes widened and his face turned beet red. While Naruto covered her body with the shirt she took out earlier in a flash.

"SA-SASUKE, GET OUT!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! And Merry Christmas!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next chapter. It took quite long since I'm busy with work and other things. Also, I've kinda experience a writer's block on this one. But, here it is. Thank you for waiting

Dinner was awkward to say the least. Kakashi and Itachi didn't know what to do with the situation. After both of them heard Naruto's scream, they both rushed upstairs only to find Sasuke leaning against the door to Naruto's room, eyes wide and face as red as a tomato, and he looked like he was about to faint. Itachi and Kakashi shared a confused look before Naruto opened the door and joined them on the hallway, face also a bit flushed and her hands tugging her shirt down in nervousness. Her eyes looking everywhere except Sasuke.

Now, at dinner, the situation got even worse as both of them were sitting next to each other. They made a very wide gap between their chair, whenever they both reached for something and their hand brushed even just a bit both immediately retreated their hands and flushed, and worse, they both were engulfed in an awkward silence. Itachi looked at Kakashi, his gaze asking, "What the hell hapened to them both?". Kakashi's amswering gaze was that of, "I don't know. but it seems like it's something embarassing. Really embarassing."

Itachi nodded and was about to break the silence when a knock came. Naruto instantly shot out of her chair and sprint to the door shouting "I'm coming!". When she was gone from the kitchen, Itachi didn't waste any time and asked Sasuke what happened. Sasuke flushed again, but answered reluctantly. "I went... in when she was... changing after bath..." Itachi and Kakashi blinked before Kakashi chuckled. "Of all things, it was only seeing her underdressed." Itachi sighed before chuckling too. "That ought to teach you some manner before going inside a girl's room, Sasuke. But really, was she naked? You looked like you were about to faint, after all." Sasuke shook his head, "Well, no. She already wore her underwear." he said, embarrassed.

Before anyone could make a comment, Naruto came back with Sakura and Ino. "Hi, Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke-kun, and Itachi-san." Sakura greeted. The three nodded, Sasuke keeping an eye to Naruto to checked for the earlier embarrassment. "Sakura and Ino said they wanted to invite all of us to... something." Naruto explained. Both girls nodded their head excitedly and began to explain.

"There's a festival going in the hot spring village. We thought that since the others have been working hard for the past week and it's the weekend, so we wanted to take all of you to the festival tomorrow. We'll go in the morning to enjoy a good soak in the hot spring, and we'll go to the festival when the evenying roll. All of you should come too!" Sakura explained eagerly. "Especially you, Naruto! We heard how tired you were from Shikamaru and Temari-san. And you stubbornly denied a good rest." Ino added in a scolding tone. Naruto just smiled sheepishly and held her hands in front of her in a defensive manner.

"Who's going?" Itach asked. Sakura and Ino said simultaneously, "Everyone training for the mind contol jutsu and Asami-san. Even the Kages." Kakashi chuckled and nodded, saying that he's in. "Since we'll go in the morning, I should get ready and pack. Thanks for dinner, Sasuke, Itachi, Naruto." he said and then made his way to the front door. The girls then grinned evilly and turned to Naruto. Naruto sweatdropped, "Umm... Girls... At least let me finished dinner? And have you guys eaten yet?" The girls nodded. Itachi and Sasuke was bombarded with pleas while Naruto finished her dinner chuckling every now and then at the two boys antics to avoid the two very eager girls.

"Alright, alright! We'll come if Naruto come." Itachi said, a bit unsure. Sakura then sat at the seat Kakashi just used while Ino stood on the table rear near Naruto, both of the chatting merrily, erasing the awkward moment between Naruto and Sasuke that was there before.

To prolong her torture a bit, Naruto said that she had to wash the plates first. "What's wrong, Naruto? Today isn't your turn." Itachi asked as he gave his plate to Naruto. The blonde just chuckled nervously. She glanced at Ino and Sakura, who were talking animatedly at the table, before answering. "They're taking _me_ to a festival. And also a day at the hot spring. They would force themself to stay the night to picked my clothes for tomorrow and especially a kimono, and would pack the make up kits they gave me that I don't know how to use. Not to mention they would want me to fit the clothes first before they pick them. Tonight is going to be torture for me."

Itachi was mildly surprised at that. Apparently, girls could be... vicious when it comes to clothes and make ups. He just gave Naruto a troubled smile and told her to be strong. Naruto nodded and finished the dishes hence resigning to her fate of troublesome girl's night at her room. "Alright! I'm done. Let's get... to it before it got too late." Naruto said to the two. Sakura and Ino jumped out of their chair and skipped to Naruto's room ,with a reluctant Naruto trailing behind them., leaving a sympathetic Itachi and a confused Sasuke.

"What the hell was that?" Sasuke asked his brother after the girls were out of sight. Itachi sighed and shook his head in amusement. "That was the cue for a torture called girl's night out. Apparently, Naruto will be the center of their attentions." Itachi said as he also went to his room. Sasuke tilted his head, then shrugged. Later, as he went to his room and passed Naruto's room, he understood what Itachi means by girl's night out.

_0o0_

"Hey, Naruto. Do you think that Sasuke-kun likes you?" Ino asked as she dug through Naruto's wardrobe. Naruto blinked. "Huh?" Sakura was the one who answered for Naruto. "Ino, you know Naruto. She won't realize that. But... I think that he is." She said cheekily. Naruto was surprised. Unlike Sakura, Naruto didn't have anytime to think about her love life before. All her attention had been directed at training, become stonger, avoid Akatsuki and if she could defeat them, try not going Kyuubi, regain the villager's attention, and something along the line. She never really thought about her... future after everything had settled down.

Naruto wisely stayed silent as her friends talked about the many possibility that Sasuke have feelings for Naruto. Of course, when the two kunoichi put it like that, she couldn't help but think. Did Sasuke really like her? Did she liked Sasuke?

After the torture finally end, the night had became pretty late. The girls at last deemed it enough packing up for Naruto and then they decided to sleep the rest of the day off. "Where do you guys wanted to sleep?" Naruto asked after they got ready for bed. "Where do you want us to?" Sakura and Ino replied simultaneusly. Naruto smiled at them and said that her bed was big enough for the three of them.

The next morning, all the Alliance trainees gathered at the Konoha main gate. "Alright! Let's go!" Tsunade shouted eagerly. The older Kages walked behind and let the younger ones take the lead. Shikamaru walked along with Temari behind Gaara, Kankurou and Baki. Chouji walked with Ino, Kurotsuchi, Akatsuchi, Choujurou, and Ao. Killer Bee walked while rapping with Darui, Omoi, and Kamui, along with Lee, Neji, and Shino. Sakura walked along with Asami, Hinata, Kiba, and Tenten. Kakashi, Shizune, Shikaku, Gai, and Yamato walked behind them all to guard the Kages from behind. Meanwhile, Naruto walked alongside Sasuke and Itachi in front of the Kages.

"Hokage-sama. Don't you think that the three of them became quite close?" Mei whispered to Tsunade, gesturing to Naruto, Sasuke, and Itachi. Tsunade glanced at the three in front of her and smiled. "That's one of the reason why I'm fine with them living together. Naruto have been down after the war bacause of Sai's death. The two was just like brother and sister. But then, since I put Sasuke with their team, Naruto became her cheerful self again." She explained, "And about Itachi... I guess that Naruto knew him before they went for their journey."

Mei nodded. "But... Sasuke and Naruto seems... awkward.." Ay observed. The four Kages looked at the two teenagers and it was true. There's an awkward aura around them. "I wonder what happened..." Oonoki said. Sakura also notice the air around the two and remembered last night when she and Ino discussed that Sasuke might like Naruto, Naruto was silent. Too silent. So Sakura made her way to Itachi and asked, "Itachi-san, what happened to those two. Usually they were close."

Itachi sighed, "Sasuke... unintentionally saw Naruto when she was changing yesterday." Itachi whisrpered. Sakura blinked. "That's it? And they won't talk to each other?" Itachi nodded. 'Talk about really awkward.' Sakura thought. "Anyway... I was thinking... could you help out a bit?" She asked. It was Itachi' time to blinked. Sakura muttered something to Itachi and when she was done, she made a pleading face. "Please, Itachi-san!"

Itachi couldn't say that he wasn't curious, so he agreed. Sakura jumped and bounce to where Ino was. "What did Sakura-chan said to you, Itachi?" Naruto asked as Sakura bound away. Itachi just said that it's nothing and made Naruto pouted. Naruto, as stubborn as she was, kept pestering Itachi to tell her. That earned a hair ruffle from Itachi and made her pouted even more.

Sasuke, seeing Naruto so close to Itachi, felt like he was left out, a bit jealous perhaps. 'I never... feel like this. And they were just talking. This never happened when I was on my journey with Itachi. So, why now?' he thought. Naruto, oblivious to Sasuke's inner turmoil, walked over to Bee. "Octopops!" She called. "Hey, yo! Naruto! Ya wanna talk-ttebayo!?" Bee rapped, making Naruto grinned and nodded.

"Octopops, I know this is kinda... I don't know... Sudden, perhaps. But, please for now don't use Hacchan's chakra unless it is the last resort. I've been refraining using Kurama's chakra for a while. We are their target, so this is just like at the war. But this time, if we got caught, I don't know what will happen." Naruto said, "We have to fight in the front line again. To prevent more casualties."

"I know what to do! Chakra mode I won't do! Yeah!" The hachibi jinchuuriki rapped again. Naruto smiled, then it turned into a grin. "Be ready for a blast! Cause we'll last! WEEEEE!" Naruto laughed out loud. Sasuke and Itachi watched Naruto and Bee joke around and laughing. "They're close, aren't they?" Sasuke said. Itachi glanced at his little brother, amusement evident in his eyes. "More or less." he replied after a while.

_0o0_

The Alliance trainees arrived at the inn before noon and devided themself for the few room they could get. Mizukage, Hokage and Shizune shared a room, while the Tsuchikage, Raikage and Bee also shared a room. Kakashi, Gai, Shikaku and Yamato were in one room. Darui, Omoi, Choujurou, Ao, Akatsuchi, Shee and Baki had a room. Kiba. Shino, Neji, Lee, Shikamaru and Chouji in a room. Gaara, Kankurou, Sasuke and Itachi were roommates. Naruto was in the same room as Sakura, Hinata, Ino, Tenten, Temari, Kamui, Kurotsuchi and Asami. The teenage girls needed to stick together, they said. 

Soon, all of them hit the hot spring after lunch. The hot springs became packed with how much people there are. Sasuke and Itachi were the last to arrived. "Hey, guys! Hurry up before all the spaces are filled! We have so many people in here!" Kiba yelled as he waved to the both of them. Itachi smiled and nodded slightly but went to wash himself first while Sasuke decided to ignore the dog lover and just began pouring water on his head. "Say, Little Brother. Something has been nagging me since yesterday." Itachi began when the both of them were still washing. Sasuke hummed to adressed his brother's statement.

“Don't you think it's time for you to socialize more with girls?" Itachi questioned, already having a guess what his foolish little brother will reply with. And he guessed right. "Dont wanna. The girls at the village are annoying. They kept clinging to me or following me and stalking me around. Like yesterday, I hadn't walk more than five steps outside when one of the neighbours daughter tried to invite me to their house." Sasuke answered, recalling the many times his so called fangirls kept following him around like moths to flames.

"All of them?" Itachi continued, smoothing his long, wet, jet black hair. "Well, not all. But mostly, they're annoying anyway." Sasuke answered after he wipe some water from his face. "Hmm, mostly. That means there are a few that didn't annoy you, little brother. Who are they?"

"Why the sudden interest, Nii-san?" Sasuke asked, a bit suspicious at his brother. Itachi just chuckled, "Am I not allowed to asked and monitor my brothers private life?" Sasuke frowned, but relented anyway. "The girls in Konoha Eleven. Tenten, Ino, Hinata, and Sakura. They're not as annoying as the other girls at the village." He answered truthfully. Itachi raised an eyebrow, not hearing Naruto's name. And he didn't waste anytime to question that.

Sasuke tensed when Itachi asked that, before he turned his head away from his brother and answered, "She's not annoying. Actually, I'm quite comfortable with her. She's unlike others that I've met before. She never saw me for my looks or my name. She sees me for who I am." Itachi smiled, knowing what his brother said was true. That was when Itachi noticed a hint of a blush on his foolish brother's cheeks. His eyes widened, he never would have thought that his little brother would have a crush. This, as any brother should be, made him happy and he hoped that Naruto feels the same way.

On the girl's side, the same conversation was initiated by Sakura and Ino to Naruto. "I-I don't know, okay! Im not good at these kind of things." Naruto protested as Sakura and Ino were practically suffocating her with questions like, 'Naruto, what do you think of Sasuke-kun?', 'Do you think that you like him?', 'No! What do you think about him anyway?', and the likes. The other girls watched the trio, as they kept pestering Naruto and Naruto kept dodging their questions, with amusement. Sakura and Ino were not subtle in their way for gathering the material for the villages gossips, as they had a reputation to keep. "Gu~ys! I really don't know." Naruto whined softly, she lowered her eyes and bit her lower lip. She really didn't know how she felt about Sasuke. And she felt her cheeks became a bit hot. 

Seeing that, the girls stopped. They stared at Naruto for a while, making Naruto uncomfortable, before smiling softly. They had reached a conclusion just from seeing those flushed cheeks. 'Naruto had a crush!' They thought and squealed inside their head. Then they began to plan how they're going to get the two of them together tonight. After they gave Naruto a make over, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I've been writing on 3 new stories so this work is kinda neglected. But I'll try to make update faster. I also will rewrite this again. I'm going to make the rewrite version even better. But that is after I finished this.
> 
> Please leave positive comment so that I can improve, and kudos too.  
> Thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> Please give reviews! Since it's my first time, I don't know what's wrong and what's right. Thank you.


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